WOMEN
AND RECOVERY IN ARIZONA A BRIEF HISTORY
September 1999
Written by Paula Burns
GA started in Arizona twenty-six thiry
five years ago, in April 1973. For the first 18 years, a few women
walked through the doors..... and left. By their own admission, the
men didn't quite know what to do with them. The women were told they
hadn't gambled long enough; they hadn't lost enough to be real gamblers.
"I've tipped a cocktail waitress more than you've lost in your
whole gambling career!"one said. They didn't play real games.
"Any monkey can pull a handle. Real gamblers play poker, horses
or bet on sports. Their tears and their stories were ridiculed. They
were "hit" on, "Let's go for coffee..., at my place,
baby.." They didn't stay. The men said, "Women just don't
seem to have what it takes to stay in recovery."In Jan. 1991,
Marilyn L. stayed. She had many years of AA experience, and she knew
12 step programs worked. She was determined to stop gambling.She vowed
she would start a women preferred meeting in Phoenix. She felt women
needed a place to feel safe- where women's issues could be freely
felt; where others understood how and why you gambled- where tears
could flow and no one would be more interested in your body than your
therapy. She probably would have made it in the "men's"
meeting. But she was committed to the women who couldn't. In June
of 1992, four women met in Marilyn L's home. The next few years the
meeting struggled, but persisted. On a few occasions Marilyn sat home
alone with her coffee pot. Usually there were two or three. Then five.
Finally they out-grew her home and rented a room in a church. Meanwhile,
one of the men who answered the GA hotline, Don H., felt women did
gamble differently than men; their personalities were different than
most male gamblers; and maybe they should talk to a woman who understood.
He referred women to women. In 1993 as the Arizona Council on Compulsive
Gambling was forming, the women who called that Hotline were also
referred to women.They were not encouraged to go only to a women preferred
group, but to go to mixed groups as well. The women went together
to the male dominated meetings. And so it grew.
As Executive Director of the Arizona Council on Compulsive Gambling, Inc., Don Hulen talked to literally thousands of women who called the hotline. He began to write down the differences he noticed in what the women told him as compared to the men. It seemed like gender differences and he first wrote about it as such. As time went on, it became apparent that it was not just a gender difference. Many men called the hotline with the same characteristics as most of the women gamblers. Today, the article Differences in Types of Gamblers in Arizona is widely distributed and a major piece for the council in educating those who call.
The second full time employ was added at the A. C. C. G. in 1997: a woman (Paula Burns) to answer the hotline, and in cooperation with the woman GA Trustee, work with women throughout the state. Today Phoenix area has many meetings. Of those, three are women preferred meetings. Women make up about an estimated 50% of the fellowship.
(A little more History) Fifty GA women and forty seven GA men attended a GA mini-conference in Phoenix Sept. 18, 1999. (16 Gam-Anon women and one man also attended.)
Suggestions on this page are from Arizona Council on Compulsive Gambling, Inc. Based on experience in Arizona