Call to make menopause protected characteristic under Equality Act.

[NitroNine]

The Guardian have clearly been so overwhelmed by the last few days that they woman-ed all through this article about the call by MPs for menopause to be protected characteristic in UK Equality Act 😁

I disagree, if argued correctly, disability is the characteristic which affords the most protection.

Yes agree, it should sit under disability

You have to know how to read it. If you just read the words of the legislation for example you wouldn’t know that sections of it aren’t in force even though they appear on the page.

I don’t want anyone to mess with the protected characteristics.

The protections against discrimination on the actual or perceived effects of menopause are already there.

i also think that lots of organisations don’t need a menopause policy. They need other, good policies on health at work, and dignity and equality at work, which used well will cover everything nicely.

What’s needed is more training and awareness raising for both HR departments and business leaders. That sounds difficult though doesn’t it?!

Or instead of maternity, it should be renamed as reproductive health?

I’m just uncomfortable with menopause falling under disability from a feminist perspective. It’s been hard enough proving that women are just as capable as men as productive, intelligent professional workers. But now if we say menopause is a disability, and one furthermore that every woman will acquire during her work-life, doesn’t that push equality back? How can we say we are just as capable (able) as men, if we women are all on the path to having a disability that tends to coincide with peak career and peak earnings? This will affect hiring and promotion decisions.

Oh don’t put 42yr old Sally up for CEO because who knows how the menopause will affect her, she might be a complete hormonal wreck in months or a few years, it’s not worth the risk.

And Sally gets passed over. And of course no one is going to be stupid enough to say it’s because she’s a woman of a certain age…

Disability doesn't work well given that the Act specifies it needs to be 'long term' and menopause is not short, but still a number of years Vs foreseeable future (Vs eg premenstrual issues, which should qualify).

Age doesn't always do it because some women for genetic reasons or due to other health conditions/treatments can end up going through menopause in their 20s.

Sex is the most obvious one. However, given there is a push to see menstruation as separate from sex, then it's increasingly important to call it out, as they have for pregnancy. (Hence the paragraph on trans men in the Guardian, regardless of what you believe on this, current trends make this very relevant).

If you click on 4. Protected characteristics then you get the list. The characteristics listed on your screen shots are section headers - click on them and you get more details about each of the characteristics. Eg under sex "a reference to persons who share a protected characteristic is a reference to persons of the same sex" - a point missed by a recent employment tribunal.

Completely agree. Single mums??

For example do you know how many FTSE 100 CEOs and senior managers have a disclosed disability? ZERO

Make menopause a disability, and I really think we can say goodbye to female leadership.

www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1745112/no-ftse-100-executives-or-senior-managers-have-disclosed-a-disability

Menopause isn’t a disability in itself, and absolutely should not be considered as one.

However the effects of menopause in some women can be considered a disability /disabilities within the meaning of the Act.

The legislation is already there, you just have to know it, and know how to use it.

Disability doesn't work well given that the Act specifies it needs to be 'long term' and menopause is not short, but still a number of years Vs foreseeable future (Vs eg premenstrual issues, which should qualify

'Long term' means 12 months or more.

In fact it doesn’t even need to be 12 months, in that you don’t need 12 months to elapse.

The fact that it could, or is likely to last 12 months or more, is enough. I think that this adequately covers all of the worst effects of menopause for those women who experience them.

Exactly

@Discovereads agree on the risks of classifying menopause as a disability (though it could be a protected characteristic without that, via sex or called out like pregnancy/maternity).

Menopause rights is similar to the groups pushing for period leave. A one off bad period should qualify for sick leave, a recurring issue like.PMDD or endo as a disability . I realise it's not always simple to get a diagnosis with the current NHS waiting lists.. but ffs, it's like women don't realise that they're setting us all up to be less desirable employees from teen years until near retirement, and to give men a massive chip on their shoulder.

Fighting for use it or lose it paternity leave would likely do a huge amount more to advance the cause of women in the workplace.

Difficult periods would be covered in the same way I have described for menopause above.

The more people want to add into this law, the more arguments you make to scrap it or scrap bits of it.

We cannot afford to lose the protections we have. We need them to work and not to fall into the same trap the TRAs did with ever-expanding meanings, or agitating for unpopular and unnecessary add-ons.

Also… you don’t need an actual diagnosis for your condition/s to be recognised as a disability under the Equality Act. It’s about the effects of the condition on your day to day life.

In fact, a diagnosis doesn’t automatically confer the protections of the Act, except for in the cases of HIV, cancer and MS.

I'm all for menopausal women (I am one) receiving appropriate treatment/adjustments if their menopausal symptoms require it. However, how would making menopause a protected characteristic actually work? How can that be fairly legislated for without bringing all women in an age range within the protection? And the age range would have to be a large one, as some women start menopause in their 30s. Then millions of women who WEREN'T in fact menopausal yet would get the benefit of the protected characteristic, wrongly.

The only other way I could think of to do it would require disclosure of medical records to prove that a woman claiming the protected characteristic was menopausal. That brings up all sorts of privacy issues.

@OverTheRubicon
Yes. In fact, I think I’ve changed my mind and menopause should be a separate protected characteristic if it is included at all in the Equality Act.

• it’s not a disability and calling it one will set back womens equality

• it doesn’t matter whether menopause effects a woman alot or a little, the media has done a bang up job making everyone think menopausal aged women are all going to be hormonal wrecks that can’t do a days work- so negative perception/the stigma of menopause not it’s actual impact on an individual woman will be the primary cause of discrimination. So all women need this protection no matter how menopause affects them (sailing through vs serious struggle).

Well… not all opinions are created equal that’s for sure!!

I’d like the protected characteristics in the Equality Act to remain completely untouched in their perfectly imperfect 2010-edness… and safely out of the clutches of anyone who may have a rather more modern agenda around this.

I agree 100% with you, that it is a Trojan horse.

I’m sorry discovereads but you’re wrong. You haven’t grasped that we are not saying that menopause is a disability. We are saying that the effects of menopause can be significant enough to give those particular women who are so affected, the right to protection under the disability provisions of the Equality Act. That is already the case, whether menopause was separately added or not, it would continue to be the case.

Menopause won’t be added as a separate characteristic, it’s legally and medically way to complex and it’s unnecessary.

*too complex

perhaps the guardian thinks it needs listing separately as they've forgotten sex is real?