Menopause in the Workplace
In light of World Menopause Day last week (18th October 2022), our colleague, Emily, shares her MRes dissertation findings on the struggles of menopause in the workplace:
In the UK workforce, women over the age of fifty make up 3.5 million of all employees; a number that is gradually increasing. This means that a substantial number are/will be transitioning through menopause at work; demonstrating the importance of such topics being discussed in this context. Additionally, they continue to dominate manual and/or lower paid occupations which offer less job security and access to healthcare provisions than other occupations, as well as cause higher rates of ill health and work-related stress. It is therefore not surprising that women’s health is not widely acknowledged or discussed within these positions. Consequently, whilst menopause has been found to be difficult to navigate for most women, manual and lower paid working environments in particular have been found to exacerbate symptoms. Despite this, most research has focused on those in office-based roles.
In September 2022, I completed my dissertation for my MRes, entitled “Exploring experiences of menopause within manual and other working environments”. This was in response to the handful of studies that existed in relation to women’s experiences of menopause in manual and/or lower-paid working environments. I interviewed six women and asked them about their lived experiences of navigating menopause at work; professions included musician, guesthouse manager, hardware shop assistant and teacher. Questions were developed based on previous literature which made it clear that these women were ill represented in research.
My findings were both surprising and un-surprising. The main themes that came up in women’s accounts related to, firstly, how they struggled to come to terms with mental and psychological changes. These spilled over into their working lives and made them question their emerging menopausal identity. Secondly, the lack of support that they felt at work, often relating back to their fears and experiences of age-related stigma; driving them to use humour as a coping mechanism for ageist remarks. And thirdly, the confusion that they conveyed over whether their symptoms were caused by menopause, work-related stress or general signs of ageing. In addition, their family dynamics changed a lot around this time; negatively feeding into their working lives. Overall, it was found that psychological symptoms had the most effect on women’s ability to manage symptoms at work. Women struggled with confusion in that symptoms overlapped with work related strain, they feared ostracization and ageism from managers and colleagues, and a lack of support caused them to suffer in silence in case their menopausal status rendered them ‘unemployable.’
On reflection, this project helped reinforce the idea that menopause is a taboo subject and that the ageing female body is heavily stigmatised in the workplace. Additionally, it showed that women are not well educated on the signs and symptoms, even when transitioning. Going forward, there needs to be more acceptance of female ageing and education on what it entails. Additionally, workplaces should create more safe spaces to talk about menopause, and employers need to be more aware of how wider cultural and structural issues can impact on women’s experiences.
We have half of the population … who has this problem, and we don’t know what to do” (Devlin, 2019).
References
Aronsson, V., Toivanen, S., Leineweber, C., Nyberg, A. (2018) Can a poor psychosocial work environment and insufficient organizational resources explain the higher risk of ill-health and sickness absence in human service occupations? Evidence from a Swedish national cohort. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health [online]. 47 (3), pp. 310-317. [Accessed 20 August 2022].
Brewis, J., Beck, V., Davies, A., Matheson, J. (2017) The effects of menopause transition on women’s economic participation in the UK [online]. University of Leicester: Department for Education. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/menopause-transition-effects-on-womens-economic-participation [Accessed 31 July 2022].
Devlin, H. (2019) The menopause: why so little research on the middle-aged ovary? The Guardian [online]. 26 August. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/26/the-menopause-why-so-little-research-on-the-middle-aged-ovary [Accessed 23 October 2022].
Griffiths, A., MacLennan, J. S., Hassard, J. (2013) Menopause and work: An electronic survey of employees’ attitudes in the UK. Maturitas. [online]. 76 (2), pp. 155-159. [Accessed 02 June 2022].
Im, E-O., Meleis, A. (2001) Women's Work and Symptoms During Midlife: Korean Immigrant Women. Women and Health [online]. 33 (1-2), pp. 83-103. [Accessed 22 June 2022].
Institute of Development Studies (2015) Balancing Paid Work and Unpaid Care Work to Achieve Women’s Economic Empowerment [online]. Brighton: Institute of Development Studies. (83). Available from: https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/5623/PB83_AGID316_Balancing_Online.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [Accessed 20 August 2022].
Kopenhager,T., Guidozzi, F. (2015) Working women and the menopause. Climacteric [online]. 18 (3), pp. 372-375. [Accessed 22 June 2022].
Petra, V., Bendien, E., Appelman, Y. (2022) Menopause and work: A narrative literature review about menopause, work and health. Work [online]. Pre-press, pp. 1-14. [Accessed 22 June 2022].
Image from: https://www.womanlog.com/cycle/menopause
