Introduction: This study aims to better understand the evolution of women's drinking patterns in Brittany, one of the French regions most affected by alcohol abuse during the twentieth century. Methods: First we tried to measure alcohol consumption of women, particularly through data on morbidity and mortality. Second we examined the perceptions regarding women's drinking patterns through various written and oral archives and through a selection of pictures, especially some postcards. Results: Although female mortality rates due to alcohol abuse are higher than in the rest of France, Brittany is not an exception: women drink less alcohol and in a different way than men. More original, after 1968, mortality among women due to alcoholism has considerably decreased and the gap in the rate of death between men and women has increased faster than the national average. In Brittany too, the portrayal of "woman who drinks" is classic. Three types can be identified: woman victim, guilty woman and exemplary woman. Discussion: Two elements deserve particular attention: role of women in a society which evolves rapidly after the Second World War and social rules imposed on women by moral entrepreneurs.