Menopause support must tread a fine line between awareness and stigma

• Published date: 12 April 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

The Lancet medical journal fanned the flames by suggesting “it is time for a sensible conversation about menopause” – words that could be viewed as tantamount to telling women to calm down

Menopause has risen up employers’ agendas, encouraged by a growing acceptance that once-private issues, such as mental health, have an impact on working life. It is also part of what Deborah Jermyn, an academic at the University of Roehampton, calls a “menopausal turn” in the broader culture, whereby campaigners, including celebrity activists, have sought to break taboos, highlight gaps in healthcare, guide others to identify their problems and seek help.

Perimenopause and menopause (which begins a year after periods have stopped) are triggered by declining progesterone and oestrogen levels, typically experienced by women between the ages of 45 and 55, but it can happen earlier.

Increasing numbers of employers are offering help through menopausal ambassadors, apps and professionals who can give advice on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and help to identify and alleviate symptoms that include brain fog, hot flushes and sleeplessness. A report by Mercer, the consultancy, published this year, found that 22 per cent of employers are offering menopausal support, and 54 per cent plan to do so in the next two years.

Workplace advice and accommodations, such as temperature control, flexible working and quiet rooms, can make a difference to menopausal women, who, according to the human resources body CIPD, say the most common symptoms are feeling “less able to concentrate and an increased amount of stress”.

Healthcare advisers

Talking about the issue is illuminating not just to those experiencing symptoms but also to those supporting colleagues, friends and family. This may plug gaps in public healthcare provision.

Some employers offer healthcare advisers who can prescribe HRT; Timpson, the UK retailer, reimburses staff for it. Tesco allows time off for symptoms outside sick leave calculations. Bank of Ireland offers up to 10 days’ menopause leave.

But some initiatives amount to “meno-washing”: the posters in the canteen will not do anything if a line manager is hostile.

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