Women and the Twelve Steps of AA

Women and the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Gendered Narrative

This paper examines how women â€œworkâ€ the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) from a gendered perspective.

Feminist critics of AA have

challenged the language of AA’s Twelve Steps,
the spiritual nature of the steps, and
the male-dominated culture of the Twelve-Step program.

This paper offers insight into how women in AA approach, interpret, and utilize the Twelve Steps to recover from alcoholism.

Through survey and narrative data, findings suggests

that women working AA’s Twelve Steps become empowered and
change for the better in spite of the male-dominated culture and language of the Twelve Steps and
regardless of the difficulty they may have encountered in completing these steps.

In particular, the first three steps-the â€œsurrender stepsâ€-

encourage women to let go of their alcoholic obsession and
begin a spiritual path of recovery.

Steps Four through Nine require

women to â€œclean houseâ€ and
get rid of old self-destructive ways so that they may develop a new and stronger sense of self.

Finally, on completing Steps Ten through Twelve, women

experience a spiritual awakening and
then, in turn, â€œpass onâ€ what they have learned from the Twelve Steps to other women in the program.

Woven throughout these women’s experiences is

an acknowledgment of gender and
the role it plays in how they work the Twelve Steps.

In the end, these women express a sense of personal empowerment that is particular to a gender-specific orientation to the Twelve Steps of AA.

Research; Jolene M. Sanders, Women and the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Gendered Narrative. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, Volume: 24 Issue: 3, 2006

Al-anon, Adult Children of Alcoholics, Gambler Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous,

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