Speakers abstract: A number of epidemiological and clinical studies suggest that the lack of ‘gender sensitive’ drug treatment services for women represents a pressing social problem, second only to the problem of women’s substance use itself. This paper interrogates these ‘problem representations’ (Bacchi, 2009) to answer the following question: On what basis is women’s substance use, and the associated lack of gender sensitive drug treatment services, considered to be uniquely problematic? The paper is based on an analysis of clinical and epidemiological research on women and ‘substance abuse’ published between 1990‒2012 in relevant, high impact journals. It identifies the dominant ways in which the literature represents women's use of alcohol and other drugs and argues that these representations not only reinforce a simplistic view of gender and the harms commonly associated with women’s substance use, but also paradoxically enable programs and services that meet women’s needs to remain optional or ‘add-on’ in relation to mainstream drug treatment.

Fiona Martin is a sociologist whose research focuses on alcohol and other drug-taking practices, the politics of drug treatment provision, and gender. She has conducted research in both Canadian and Australian contexts on a number of related topics. Her current research investigates the availability and accessibility of methadone maintenance treatment for pregnant women in Nova Scotia, Canada. Fiona is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Dalhousie University.