White-Collar Women Drink Twice As Much

Recent statistics show that British women in white-collar jobs drink twice as much on average as other women, and that could be a problem.

According to figures from the U.K.'s Office of National Statistics, women in top positions, like managers at large companies, drink twice as much as women with blue-collar jobs.

"The problem is not just young 'ladettes.' These figures reflect the rise of the British 'Margarita culture,' and some of the surrounding problems," said U.K. Shadow Health Minister Diane Abbott according to the Economic Times.

"It's good that more women are out in the workforce and are enjoying social life in pubs and bars," she said. "But these disturbingly high figures reveal women's drinking patterns have changed in a generation, reflecting a silent, middle-class epidemic."

She blames both job stress and the ready availability of inexpensive supermarket booze, and even suggests the government establish a minimum price for alcohol to curb the trend.

But while she says the statistics indicate a terrible epidemic of heavy drinking, the report suggests that the white-collar women surveyed consumed a bottle of wine a week on average. The hairdressers, cleaners, and factory workers surveyed consumed half that.

A bottle a week may sound like a lot on paper, but a standard bottle of wine holds enough for six 4-ounce glasses, or four 6-ounce glasses. A person drinking a glass a day for the oft-reported health benefits would clear that handily.