Abstract
Women are participating in gambling at levels approaching those of men, and although levels of disordered gambling remain lower in women than in men, significant numbers are affected. Gamblers Anonymous (GA) is a mainstay of help to problem gamblers in many countries. A scoping review was conducted which specifically addressed the experiences of women who attend GA. Within the 25 identified relevant studies, only two reported empirical data on the specific numbers of women attending. A range of barriers still remain to the participation of women in these communities. These include ‘external’ barriers such as lack of referral and signposting, lack of accessible meetings, and costs of travel; ‘internal’ barriers such as shame, stigma, and fear of disclosure; and features of the GA meetings and discourse, such as a climate which is dismissive of women’s experiences.
Highlights
Gambling has traditionally been a socially acceptable behaviour among men (Potenza et al 2001; Svensson and Romild 2014)
Four studies were identified that report on the number and proportion of women attending specific Gamblers Anonymous (GA) groups
In a paper which discussed changes to the way in which GA operates, they suggest that a key change in the GA dynamic is an increasing proportion of women attenders, noting that it had moved to a level of around 20% in the Toronto area (Ferentzy, Skinner, Antze 2009)
Summary
Gambling has traditionally been a socially acceptable behaviour among men (Potenza et al 2001; Svensson and Romild 2014). In recent years, gambling environments have changed, making a large range of gambling opportunities more physically and socially accessible than. With a worldwide liberalisation of gambling legislation, changing gender roles, and greater economic resources available to many women, some of the traditional barriers to the participation of women in many gambling activities have been removed (Bowden-Jones and Prever 2017). The participation of women in gambling activities has steadily increased in recent decades (Abbott et al 2014; Afifi et al 2010; Crisp et al 2004; Wardle and Seabury 2013). The currently favoured term across much of the field of gambling studies is to use ‘disordered gambling’ since this is the nomenclature adopted in the most recent version of the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association 2013). The term ‘disordered gambling’ will be used through the remainder of this paper, unless other terms are used in the paper being reviewed
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