At those traditional gatherings, when the drinks tray was offered round, it was expected of men that they should reach for a glass of whisky. It was never, however, expected of women that they should do so too. Oh no. If a woman did that, there was from the presenter of the tray, and the gathered guests observing the choice, a certain unspoken disapproval. The sort of disapproval - a tightening of the lips, a stiffening of the shoulders, a raising of the eyebrows - that children are totally in tune to. The sort of disapproval, in fact, children spend a great deal of their time with adults watching for. Children are very keen on approval.

It entered my psyche and probably the psyches of a lot of females who would have grown up to enjoy their national drink, that whisky was not the sort of thing women drank. A whisky-drinking woman was not one of the ladies. And it was plain to see she was not one of the chaps either.

It is, perhaps, from those tiny observations that many Scottish women do not share the passion Scottish men have for a glass or three of malt, and have instead pledged their palates to drinks from other countries; tequila, vodka, Bacardi and gin. Indeed, the manufacturers of these drinks have for years keenly pursued women by advertising in up-market women's magazines, whilst it is only recently that the whisky industry has started to target them as potential customers. Strange that, when you consider how many discerning women there are out there who shop with confidence for food, wine, cars and mortgages.

When women drink whisky, they do it for the same obvious reason men do - they like it. So it's interesting to explore the mental distillations that go in to women's decision not to drink it.

Certainly, the Society has women members all of whom are enthusiastic and articulate on the subject of whisky. But the ones I spoke to agree that there is a bias against women drinking the malt. Interestingly, for many it was at a wedding that they had a seminal experience of malt. Beverley Brady distinctly remembers going to weddings and being urged by her mother to give moral support against the tide of small tuts and disapproving body movements by joining her taking whisky to toast the bride and groom.

The bias, though, extends to all drinking outlets. Helen Sanderson said that men in bars regard it as unusual that she should ask for a specific malt. "In fact whenever I'm in a bar, and order a malt it is assumed by the barman that I've been sent by a partner or husband."

Whilst Helen Young agrees with this, she thinks attitudes to drinking have changed. It is only in the past decade or so that women have felt comfortable going into pubs alone. They were, and to some extent still are, men's territory. And so was a deal of what was consumed within them.

Helen Young recalls - not without a drop of rancour - that one firm she worked for gave out a bonus bottle of whisky every Christmas to its male employees. She, the only woman, got a bottle of sweet sherry. An insulting error of judgement she was swift to sort out.

No matter how women with a taste for the malt are regarded in this country, in America and France, they are regarded as chic. Of course, whisky is worth more than the superficial gloss of being a trendy drink. But it would be foolish to ignore the social boost a knowledge of the malt can bring. After applying successfully for a job, Beverley Brady was asked why she hadn't mentioned her Society membership, and knowledge of malts, in her CV. It simply hadn't occurred to her how much kudos it might add to her image. We have become extremely image conscious. Knowing judgements are being made, we choose with care how we look, what we drive and what we drink. Could it be that the subliminal signals a woman might give out when drinking whisky do not match those she has of herself as decision maker, mover, shaker, even mother? And indeed, the fundamental image she has of herself as a woman.

A man, however with a glass of malt in front of him suffers no self doubts at all. Whisky is one the boy's toys. Obviously it's time for women to change all that. At weddings and other dos they should, as a bid for freedom, you understand, always reach for the whisky. They should drink with unabashed enjoyment. There might just be an observer, five years high, eyes level with table tops, with a psyche open to important messages about what she'll drink when she grows up.

Isla Dewar