Menopause and Menstruation at work

[Angels1111]

There have been a load of seminars on menopause in the workplace recently at my work. The idea is to raise awareness and talk about how to manage symptoms. Managers are encouraged to make reasonable adjustments. This is similar at other workplaces.

I was just wondering why nothing is said about "managing the symptoms" of its younger sister, menstruation.
What am I completely missing?

Menstruation isn’t trendy OP.

You don't generally get the barrel of other symptoms with periods. Unless you have specific diagnosis which then workplaces should make adjustments

You can have terrible periods and awful symptoms without any diagnosis.

And even if something is diagnosible, good luck getting one. GPS would have to give a shit first, and then you'd have to get referrals accepted etc. This doesn't happen very easily in reality.

Heavy periods and flooding is not uncommon in peri, ask what reasonable adjustments they offer.

What about perimenopause? The ‘best’ of both worlds 🤣😭

Probably depends on the workplace. Last week, I needed to change protection every hour, because of heavy peri, flooding period. Not a problem in my job. Less manageable in a call centre role where your breaks are monitored, or teaching, where you have very little time in the day.

Good point. I guess I know a lof of people with heavy periods etc who aren't diagnosed with anything and therefore surprised that's not being talked about so much.

Yeh I suppose one advantage is the symptoms, if any, only last a few days a month

This. No one has coffee and chat sessions to talk about periods.

It's got to start somewhere. Rome wasn't built in a day. Let's just stay vocal and eventually we will have all our issues taken seriously.

I'm going to get flamed but here goes...

I think there's a very fine balance between meeting the needs of menopausal women and creating another reason why women are not equal in the workplace.

Young women who potentially might need mat leave. Young mothers who need time off for sick children. Now menopausal women.

We wanted equality. To be treated the same.

Totally agree @nahthatsnotforme - women have fought long and hard to be equal in the workplace. Women have periods and babies and then - joy of joys - the menopause. Don’t let these perfectly natural functions get in the way of your life and career. Stop bleating about “reasonable adjustments” - you are making yourselves look weak and incapable.

I'd have said the main one - and this applies to schoolgirls too - is a simple understanding that women and girls may need unscheduled trips to the loo.

“Equal” does not equal “the same”. Men and women are obviously different. Acknowledging that difference where it matters doesn’t have to interfere with women’s equality with men in the workplace. A woman needing to work from home one day a month doesn’t mean she isn’t doing her job equally as well as a man. And ultimately workplaces need women and their pesky different bodies to produce the next generation of workers.

I hate this notion that the only way women can be equal to men at work is to pretend to be men. It shows that still in the 21st century we live in a world of work that was designed by and for men (who don’t have female bodies and who can easily outsource all caring responsibilities to low paid or unpaid women), and as women have joined in greater and greater numbers has been tweaked a bit here and there for the ladies, but is still that male world.

Don’t let these perfectly natural functions get in the way of your life and career.

More easily said than done for those many women for whom these perfectly natural functions cause significant difficulties.

• PMS/PMDD (a misery for me for much of my life), dysmenorrhea
• Physical injury and the effects on mental health of childbirth, vastly downplayed if not undiagnosed
• The burden of parenting young children, which overwhelmingly falls on women
• Difficult menopause symptoms, including effects on physical and mental health

Yes, we should do our best to overcome such issues. But they should also be recognised and adjustments made wherever possible.

If you have particular issues though you may need them
I have reasonable adjustments for what people might see as just my period. It's an adjustment for severe period pain
Includes being able to WFH, take time off to take strong medication and let it work and to not drive when I'm on the strongest pain relief

Our work place introduced 10 days per year leave for menopause/menstrual issues yet my boss would absolutely think the worst of me if I used the leave. She is very against women being given any "special" treatment

Because she thinks of men as the default. She probably thinks Bob staying late all the time (because he’s an inefficient worker and wants to swerve tea and bath time) is a dream, whereas Cathy (who gets her work done properly in the time allocated and who wants to get back to her family) is a slacker for leaving on the dot.

A dinosaur, basically. Probably thinks she’s a feminist, though.

I don't want my boss or colleagues to know when I'm on my period. I don't want to discuss it!

Couldn’t agree more. I feel increasingly that women do themselves a disservice with all this kind of nonsense. I’d feel properly naff, and rather pathetic, to partake in discussions about how we can help women in the workplace who menstruate.

Whilst I am in some agreement that changes could be made to the workplace, I also think that we have to be realistic. And, not being pedantic here, we absolutely should not be talking about "reasonable adjustments" - the female reproductive system is not a disability!

I do think that where it is possible, employers should try to make working life and the working environment conducive to "comfort". BUt that should be for all employees. Getting the job done and done well is the most important thing, and happy and committed employees are the way to achieve that. Some women may need some "leeway" around aspects of their personal health, others will not. And the same should apply to men. It shouldn't be about "men" or "women" - it should be about making the best workplace for everyone.

That said, I do think that it needs a measured approach - it shouldn't be about making things better for just women. And we need to be cautious because the problem inevitably comes around that you give everyone an inch, and two people will take a mile and spoil it for everyone.

One final point - whilst the female reproductive system can be "awkward" or "difficult" at times, there is still far too much "pandering" of young women in such a way as to make them think that they are disadvantaged or weaker, and that periods etc are a "problem". For some women they are a problem. For most women they may occasionally be a "problem". But they are part and parcel of life and women have, down the ages, just had to get on with it. We still can. And should.

But then why talk about menopause? Why not have it all be something we just have to deal with?

Oh I'd love this!
There is a lot of evidence to suggest resting on your bleeding days can give you heaps of energy then rest of the month. Sometimes I feel so dizzy I can't get up.

This is something that worries me

But why are we talking about menopause?