Menopause and the workplace

Women aged 50 and above are the fastest growing economically active group in the UK1.Despite their growing numbers, 1 in 3 women leave paid employment early, before the state pension age, and a third do not have adequate savings for retirement2. With nearly 8 in 103 menopausal women in paid work, menopause transition may be an important factor in decreased workplace participation, with evidence suggesting that (peri)menopausal symptoms push women to make work changes such as reducing their working hours or taking early retirement4. This project aims to examine the impact of menopause on working women with a view to better understanding their lived realities and how employment practices and policies can help during this period. The project is being led by Dr Tatiana Rowson and the project aims to: 

  1. Use secondary data to identify broad challenges and trends in a representative samples of the UK female population.
  2. Build on pilot interviews conducted by Dr Tatiana Rowson in July 2021, to capture lived experiences of menopausal women, particularly those who felt their career or work changed (or had to change) because of the menopause transition.
  3.  Design and run a survey targeting employees (women, men; including line managers) to collect information on experience, knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of both menopause and policy/practice.
  4. Undertakes some organisation case studies to understand existing policy/practice to understand what works and what doesn’t work.

Our very own Professor Grace James has published a critique of  of labour law’s engagement with menopausal workers in the UK. Her critique argues “Effective labour laws could better support menopausal workers: labour laws could encourage long term individual and organisational resilience by adopting more effective anti-discrimination and dismissal protections and more strongly centring negotiation as a realistic strategy for menopausal workers and employers when navigating any tensions that arise.”

If you are an organisation that would be interested in becoming a case study or would like to co-design workplace policy/guidance, please contact us using our contact form.

  1. ONS (2019). Dataset: A05 SA: Employment, Unemployment and Economic Activity by Age Group (seasonally Adjusted)
  2. DWP (2017). Fuller Working Lives: A Partnership Approach. London: Department for Work and Pensions
  3. Faculty of Occupational Medicine (2020). Health and Work Menopause focus infographics.
  4. Evandrou, M., Falkingham, J., Qin, M., and Vlachantoni, A. (2021) Menopausal transition and change in employment: Evidence from the national child development study. Maturitas, 143,96-104.