I'm not in HR, either, but I have a draft mail to go to HR/Women's Network saying I think we should have more support for women and menstruation - not just at menopause. We just had a health at work day, and there was no mention of women's health issues. We've had a breast health day in the past, but not other issues, AFAIK. They did have a men's health session, which I assume was about testicular cancer and prostate health and so on, but as I didn't go, what with not being a man and all, I don't know.
We do have access to some medical docs via the employee assistance programme, but I want some more practical guidelines about how to deal with period pains that make you vomit and faint - if that happens regularly, what effect does that have on your career progression? What about if you need to be changing protection every hour? That's mostly okay in my role - I rarely have meetings which last more than an hour, though I do sometimes have back-to-back meetings. But what if you are a teacher or something where it's less easy to take breaks? What if you flood through your clothes onto expensive upholstery? The whole unpredictability when things stop being regular, tiredness from sleep disruption...
But it's all still taboo, so women often don't talk about it - earlier this week, I walked from my desk to the recycling bins with an empty scrunched up tampon box, and even though probably no one could see what it actually was, I still felt quite daring. So if we don't even talk to each other about it, how do you talk to a male manager, if you are struggling to cope and want to take it easy one day, and put the hours in when you're feeling a bit stronger, or something like that? Shouldn't make employees with wives have some understanding of the symptoms of menopause, so they can support their wives? How do we expect women and girls in other countries to get over the real menstrual taboos that stop them working and being educated, if we can't talk about it between ourselves, where we don't have such taboos?
But also - we're meant to be equal to men, and periods just aren't meant to be an issue, so if we say, "actually, I do need more support sometimes," does that play into the hands of all the men who think that actually, women aren't quite up to the job? (Yes, we are - we go through everything men do, but have to deal with all the menstrual stuff as well. We deserve medals, sometimes!) So what will we lose, if we say we do need more support?