Women and the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

Abstract

This paper examines how women “work” 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 stepsthe “surrender steps”-encourage women to let go of their alcoholic obsession and begin a spiritual path of recovery. Steps Four through Nine require women to “clean house” 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, “pass on” 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.