Women's reproductive health at work

[PringleAllTheWay]

I'm doing some research for my employer re women's reproductive health at work, so I'm looking for research, stats, whitepapers etc. as well as examples of policies other companies have implemented (good or bad).

The aim is to raise awareness of the ways women may be impacted by their reproductive health - whether a natural part of a given lifestage like menopause, or when something goes wrong e.g. endometriosis. And more importantly, to build better, more supportive policies for our staff.

I have done an initial online search but I thought that the brilliant minds here might have already come across some useful resources that I could use. Or may have experience of particular policies in your own workplaces.

I'm planning to look into menstrual health, fertility, pregnancy, maternity and menopause. What are the other unique health issues that only women experience, and how do they impact us at work?

What policies can employers put in place to make sure women have the necessary support to continue doing our jobs in spite of these issues, and or enable us to get back to work?

It may help to know that there are C500 employees, the work is office-based but most of us are working from home due to COVID.

Any and all input gratefully received. Thank you!

I don’t have data for you, but I’d suggest that everything around pregnancy is made twice as hard by the need to keep things secret because being seen to be TTC may jeopardise your career prospects.

For example, if you’re TTC and not drinking alcohol but in a job that involves socialising down the pub then you need to cover that up.

If you’re in the NHS at the moment and called up for a Covid jab but TTC you need to weigh up which would be most harmful to your prospects: being seen to be a vaccine sceptic or being known to be TTC.

If you miscarry then you face not just the general taboo about mentioning pregnancy loss but also the fear that even if you never do have a successful pregnancy, mentioning a miscarriage will mark you out as someone who is TTC and not worth promoting.

I would also suggest that you look at breastfeeding. It is more common now to feed for longer but people don’t think about it in work place policies. There have been loads of threads on here from nurses who feel under pressure to stop breastfeeding to have the coronavirus vaccine.

Fertility treatment is something worth thinking about. I have a colleague going through fertility treatment who is very open about it, but it requires time off for appointments and can have difficult physical side effects... Which if you didn't feel able to share your fertility treatment with your workplace could be difficult to navigate.

The problem with implementing policies sometimes is that there are unintended consequences which are negative for women. Take for example the IVF policies that a few large companies have now put in place - paid leave for IVF appointments/procedures.

Two separate friends have suffered the following as a result of trying to take said leave:

1. manager stating that this year isn't convenient, can they put it off until next year
2. after taking leave, finding themselves sidelined (presumably just in case it worked)
3. passed over for promotions and bonuses suffered.

Interestingly, one friend's husband also worked at the same place, claimed leave for IVF and none of this happened to him. I wonder why. Both friends have now moved to other, similar companies and said that they will not be taking IVF leave if they go through it again.

I realise this is anecdata, but it does show how seemingly positive policies actually have negative effects.

Have you had a look at the Pregnant then Screwed website?
pregnantthenscrewed.com/

Have a look at miss menopause www.missmenopause.co.uk

There's pros and cons to individual policies on things like this but a lot choose not to implement and instead educate themselves/managers to be better equipped at dealing with situations as they arise. There are a lot of women who don't want to feel singled out for going through menopause or other female issues etc. There's lots on CIPD as well if your a member or will be some free resources including podcasts etc

This is interesting
www.personneltoday.com/hr/one-in-six-endometriosis-sufferers-give-up-work/

Endometriosis U.K. may have more info. I used to say it was a migraine rather than endometriosis because needing time off for “period pain” would have been career limiting.

I believe the endometriosis uk charity has just launched a workplace guide and are encouraging employers to sign up to be endometriosis friendly, you'll find a whole workplace policy online.

My personal opinion is it's all too fluffy and period related, when endometriosis is more of an inflammatory chronic condition and should be reclassified as a benign cancer. It's not really as simple as a painful period.

It does impact more women than diabetes and has some links with periods but goes way beyond that in terms of debilitating illness so I find the pink period links a bit 🙄 if I'm honest.

Rant over.

should be reclassified as a benign cancer.

Language has huge impact for lots of the issues mentioned.

Lots of food for thought. Thanks all!

Would you want to include miscarriage as a separate thing from pregnancy and maternity? There can be long standing grief, might be relevant?

Also, the unpaid labour and caring responsibilities that women take on that male peers don't, or at least, not in the same way. Women who have ageing parents and young grandchildren often stop working at that point - they are a huge talent loss and flexible working might be a way of encouraging retention.

Another vote for IVF / fertility treatment. We had to have IVF, l worked for the NHS, had the treatment paid for by the NHS but l had to take annual leave. For the numerous appointments and procedures. It wasn’t our choice to have fertility issues and need IVF . It wasn’t pleasant and didn’t even work

Period pain and productivity

bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/6/e026186

Article about above. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/period-pain-menstrual-cramps-women-productivity-work-presenteeism-bmj-a8978641.html%3famp

Period leave at this Indian company:

www.zomato.com/blog/period-leaves

Miscarriage should be a separate area.

It can affect you physically for some time afterwards as well as mentally.