“The world seems a bit of a better place”: Idealised femininities and alcohol consumption at midlife

Abstract

Across their lifetimes, women at midlife have experienced shifts in idealised femininities and permissive alcohol environments. Rising drinking rates in midlife women have gained media attention and are often framed as a societal and public health issue. This research explored how women construct and position drinking and alcohol within their lives. Eight friendship groups and 17 individual interviews were conducted with 50 women (35–59 years) in Aotearoa New Zealand about alcohol and drinking. Transcripts were analysed using feminist Foucauldian-informed discourse analysis. The women constructed drinking alcohol as enhancing pleasure and happiness (within reason), facilitating care and fun in relationships, and enabling the performance of midlife roles and responsibilities. Simultaneously, the women positioned their drinking in line with gendered expectations of being controlled, mindful, and in accordance with social, parental, and economic success. These findings demonstrate an underlying postfeminist sensibility that shapes notions of living a good feminine life and creates imperatives for women at midlife. The neoliberal logics of seeking—and taking individual responsibility to achieve—pleasure, happiness, health, and self-care through consumption (including drinking) are salient. However, this reinforces women's work and care responsibilities and deflects attention from the structures that maintain unequal gendered roles.