Women in developing countries who suffer from alcohol-related abuse and even torture are unlikely to leave their husbands or ask for legal protection. Social supports are minimal and few have the job skills or self-confidence to survive outside of marriage. For many Hindu women, the sense of helplessness is reinforced by fatalistic religious beliefs. She believes that it is her thalai eluthu , the fate written on her head by the gods. Government Addiction Despite severe social and economic problems from alcohol, few countries attempt to regulate its consumption.
Many governments have a vested interest in increasing drinking rates.
Some own or subsidize breweries. Meanwhile, taxes on alcohol often are an essential part of state income. In wartorn Burundi, a brewery jointly owned by the government and a European brewing firm is the only game in town. There is a lot of profit, and no beer truck has ever been hit by a grenade or mine. Ironically, in Burundi, as in Rwanda, Chechnya, Bosnia, and other countries at war, the majority of war crimes are committed by armed men and children acting under the influence of alcohol.