subject: Dui Issues For Women [print this page] Because of several physiological reasons, a woman will feel the effects of alcohol more than a man, even if they are the same size. There is also increasing evidence that women are more susceptible to alcohol's damaging effects than are men. This can have a huge impact on drinking and driving and especially when a woman is charged with a DUI. Below are explanations of why men and women process alcohol differently.
Ability to Dilute Alcohol
A woman's ability to dilute alcohol is different than a man's. Women have less body water than men do. The average woman has 52% and the average man has 61%. This means that a man's body will automatically dilute the alcohol more than a woman's body, even if the two people weigh the same amount.
Ability to Metabolize Alcohol Women have a diminished ability to metabolize alcohol. Women have less dehydrogenase, a liver enzyme that breaks down alcohol, than men do. So a woman's body will break down alcohol more slowly than a man's.
Hormonal Factors
Premenstrual hormonal changes cause intoxication to set in faster during the days right before a woman gets her period. Also, birth control pills or other medication with estrogen will slow down the rate at which alcohol is eliminated from the body.
Women Are More Susceptible to Long-Term Alcohol-Induced Damage
Women who are heavy drinkers are at greater risk for several medical issues. These include a higher risk of liver disease, more damage to the pancreas and higher blood pressure than heavy drinkers who are male. Proportionately more alcoholic women die from cirrhosis than do alcoholic men.
Field Sobriety Testing and Chemical Testing Are Not Developed For Women
It does not help that field sobriety testing and chemical testing are not developed for women. Breath testing machines are not designed to accurately test a woman's blood alcohol level. The breathalyzer was designed for an average man's lung capacity, which is obviously much different than that of a woman's. This causes the breathalyzer to read at a higher level, making the test inaccurate in determining a woman's blood alcohol level.
Police Officers Have Less Training In Assessing Women More importantly, police officers are not usually trained to assess women for DUI as they are with men. Since women process and respond to alcohol differently than men do, it is much more difficult for an officer, even one with many arrests under his belt, to judge the intoxication level of a woman.
by: Garrett Ogata
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