Is awareness of menopause and its horrific to start backfiring on us ?

[Bobbyewingshowerscene]

Is the current awareness and better understanding of menopause and its ruddy awfulness going to start backfiring on us on the workplace?
Undermining faith in the competency of women in their 40s and 50s? because there is better understanding of how the body, hormones, sleep, mood, ability to focus, mental health are affected?

Not dissimilar to how employers have historically (and I would argue still currently) viewed mothers/ women of child bearing age- for concerns about future mat leave/ child care issues/ sick days etc.

Is it an unfair irony that promoting more information about the menopause and its negative effects, and this being more publicly understood, is going to set us back to being seen as less capable than our male counterparts?

It's well established that women in their menopause years are less likely to cope in the workplace with various things. They are more likely to leave the workforce, reduce hours or step down from senior roles. Workplaces need to develop a menopause policy to accommodate the needs of women in this stage of life, as they would for any other employee having temporary health needs. Not acknowledging it won't do anything to help those suffering.

Depends on where you work I suppose.

I work for my local council and they've always been amazingly supportive.

I'm sure other work places are less so, but then they probably always were and not just with regards to the menopause either.

Well most Dr's deny it exists anyway apparently at age 50 with all symptoms I'm not even in permenopause because I'm still getting my period 🙃

I get your point @Bobbyewingshowerscene and I have also wondered about this!
(I have no idea what the solution is though)

I'm 51 and still regular (just with a bit more variation recently, which suggests finally mid-perimenopause).

I do find myself stepping back from social activities due to this stage of life. I'm just as capable professionally but it takes a toll in other ways as I only have so much energy.

Yes this is my point. With policies needing to be implemented I fear we could arrive at a point where a small business, or even a large org. looking for part timers would simply just avoid the hassle and simply avoid employing middle aged women

I too work for the LA and have never availed myself of this support specifically , but it is there agreed.
Along with shed loads of other things yet to filter into the wider workplace- including flexi working, 6 months sick pay, well being days etc etc

As you say, however, this is not the norm in most jobs…

It could happen but it already happens in some places with women of childbearing age. Informal discrimination is hard to spot. Or not so hard in the case of a friend who was asked at an interview about her family plans!

I asked my DH what he would do if he was aware a woman in his workplace was struggling with this and he said they would make a plan with them, like they do with other employees who have personal issues in their lives that need accommodating. Before I reached that age though, he was clueless about the whole issue.

Yeah I've wondered this too. I don't want to be regarded as feeble minded or somehow incapable due to being a menopausal woman. Personally, and I know its not like this for many, my menopause symptoms have been minimal, and I have been the most high performing and respected in my whole career during these last few 'menopause years '.

My honest view is that while it will be accommodated as the hot new thing in cushty-tushty jobs like mine , it will backfire on the wider population, setting women back a decade or two at least. Just like maternity/ bring of child bearing age did.

I agree it's a double-edged sword.
As an older woman who has been there and done that, I am concerned that younger women are being frightened into thinking that menopause is always horrific and it is the norm to need workplace accommodations and HRT. It is, and always has been, difficult for some women but for many it is relatively minor and I think the current negative view of menopause is doing most women a disservice

I feel like this on a personal level also.
I fought tooth and nail to build my career and at the most I wanted my menopause to be a quiet joke amongst myself and the other women in my team going through the same. An eye roll and a moan every now and again then back to the job at hand

Yes I agree with your point.
I think it is no coincidence that the subject has become ubiquitous in the same way a lot of life’s ups and downs are being described as mental health issues and illnesses also

Agree with all of this.

I don't think menopause needs to be painted as negative, but I do think there needs to be awareness of what the issue can be, so women are prepared if they happen, not blindsided and having to work it all out by themselves, like I've had to do.

I know some women have a terrible time and some sail through it. I suspect most women have some sort of symptoms, even if mild. I don't use HRT and I wouldn't say it's awful, but it's not always fun, especially around periods.

Either we risk that some women are going to be seen as less competent at a certain age (which is going to be untrue for the most part, for most women), or we accept the current situation where women are having to choose reducing workforce participation informally because of menopausal symptoms.

Society has always looked for an excuse to minimise women's struggles and blame them for anything they can. If anyone uses menopause as an excuse to be prejudiced against a woman it's just that, an excuse, and they dislike women anyway so they'd find another reason to shit on them if not menopause - I include some women in this as the internalised misogyny on mumsnet alone is through the roof.

Well each year there is another i hear woman demanding time off work for, so it depends on how it is handled

But the world does not have to stop because somome has menopause, periods, pregnancy, wants time off for medical appointments, wants to work flexibility and from home so they also do childcare

And they want employers to pay for it all?

How is the endless talking about menopause making a difference?

There is always a backlash when women make advances in any area of life. It doesn't mean we should stop trying and pushing back and kicking.

The world doesn't stop for someone going through menopause but it doesn't mean an employer can't understand that every few weeks, I have a migraine induced by hormonal shifts for a few hours and they could be understanding about that. It's not my fault and I can't help it.

The same way I've seen them be understanding to people who have spouses with cancer and who need time off or flexibility due to that, have childcare juggles (male and female), have elderly parents who sometimes call on their time during work hours due to emergencies, or who need understanding because they need time out to tend to a medical problem (like insulin injections at specific times).

If men had periods and pregnancy and all the other uniquely women's things you list, then you can bet there'd be good arrangements in place to deal with them, even celebrate them. But women are just expected to tough it out and pretend it's not happening. We live a different biological reality.

I think a bigger issue is that women in midlife often have a double whammy of caring responsibilities with their parents and children that usually does not fall to men in the same way.

But hang on, it's hardly only women in midlife having health problems. Loads of men in the same age groups have never looked after themselves and don't go to the doctor about it. For the sake of everyone, we don't want a work culture where employers just expect robots who turn up every day and work hard until they become seriously ill or drop dead.

I don’t think it will set women back.
The gender pay gap is still very much is alive and kicking. Women are already discriminated against during hiring processes. Companies that do so always have, and sadly, always will.

I think knowledge is power. Information enables the good employers to widen the gap between them and the bad ones. As someone who works in HR but hasn’t yet reached menopause, I had no idea what women could experience at that stage of life. My own mother got off relatively lightly, and the information made available to me on a personal and professional level has really helped me to understand more, and make thoughtful decisions at work off the back of it.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24837463

Men more likely to be fat and forty. And the article is more than ten years old now, so now they're fat and fifty.

I worry about this too. I'm 47 and would like to switch jobs soon, and really worry about how I could be perceived. It's the brain fog that people talk about, I don't see how you could be relied upon to do a good job if you're concertedly menopausal.

Agree with this
it’s spoken about so much now that it sounds likes something terrible that’s coming, but it’s like the relationship threads on here.. we only see the problem threads. Not the 1000s who get through it fine

i had only mild symptoms that gradually tapered off with zero major inconveniences by 55. i didn't give hrt much thought.
my 40's with three teens, full time shift work in a very male centric profession, huge financial commitments, was a very difficult decade hormones or not.