Breathe
By Gabriela Rojas
Is it really women's time? Can we exercise our right to health and full participation in the workforce throughout the life cycle, including menopause? Or are there barriers to exercising these rights at this stage of life?
If we want to promote a more prosperous future for women and for society as a whole, we have to confront the taboo of menopause and transform the experience of this stage for all women. This implies that we have to close gaps in information, knowledge and comprehensive quality care for all women, among others. The good news is that if we design public policies that manage to close these gaps and if companies and organizations manage to build inclusive work environments, women will be able to exercise their rights and live a healthy, productive and fulfilling life.
Menopause has a profound impact on women's lives
Menopause is not learned, it is not known and it is not taken care of. It is made invisible. Silence, stigma and discrimination against women in menopause prevent us from having access to knowledge about this natural hormonal transition and to comprehensive health care. A bio-psycho-cultural approach to women in menopause is required, where symptoms are understood in the psychological and social context of the woman including her lifestyle, the cultural norms of the society in which she lives, the power structures, the value of women in society, among others, as opposed to a reductionist medical-biological perspective focused solely on hormonal deficiency. Women at this stage are at the peak of their careers, face microaggressions and discrimination in the workplace, menopausal symptoms that can be disabling, plus an increased burden of care.
All women will go through menopause. The way we experience it affects our health and limits our full participation in the workforce.
The 34 symptoms of menopause have a negative effect on women's health and work. For example, insomnia and mental fog make it difficult to concentrate and remember, and this leads to a loss of self-confidence. Increased menstrual flow and hot flashes cause embarrassment in front of colleagues and supervisors. Irritability, mood swings, anxiety, depression, headaches and fatigue affect women's work and their relationships with colleagues. Disabling symptoms can increase women's absenteeism or resignation.
Each woman has a unique experience and may experience different symptoms at different times. There may also be a domino effect between symptoms where one generates others. Menopause affects different menstruating individuals differently. Very little research has been done on how it affects women in urban and rural populations, in indigenous or Afro-descendant communities, in women in confinement, and in trans men, for example.
The attitudes of others affect the experience of menopause in the workplace. I am referring to the lack of support from employers, the difficulty in talking about their experience in the workplace because they do not want the supervisor to think that their performance will be affected, the concern about lack of confidentiality, age and sex discrimination, negative treatment, mockery, stigma and discriminatory treatment from colleagues and supervisors.
There are also physical aspects of the workplace that aggravate menopausal symptoms such as inadequate ventilation, high temperatures, stress, lack of access to proper restrooms, confined workplaces, among others.
The negative effects of symptoms, attitudes and workplace issues include: low work motivation, reduced job satisfaction and commitment to the employer, changes in perceived skills, lower productivity (real and perceived), increased absenteeism, as well as job continuity and changes in career prospects.
In the absence of data, Sin Reglas undertook the task of conducting the first study on the Experience, Perception and Impact of Menopause in Mexican Society 2022. In this study 9 out of every 10 women reported having symptoms. 1 out of 2 menopausal women with paid activity reported that menopause had a negative effect on their work life and only 2 out of 10 felt comfortable talking about it with their boss. In addition, 1 in 2 women were diagnosed with a concurrent disease or condition, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, anxiety or depression. In short, menopause has a negative impact on women's lives.
Today, the experience of menopause, far from being a natural hormonal transition, is a problem for working women and also for women who have left the labor force.
Why is it important?
We are many, we are going to be more and it costs us a lot.
Women make up 51 percent of the population and we will all go through menopause.
Today there are 24 million women living through some stage of menopause and in the future this number is only going to get bigger.
There are more women working today than in the past and it is estimated that there will be more and more in the future. While in 2005 there were about 16 million women in the working population, in 2022 there will be 23 million women in the working population.
Women are now working later in life. In 2005, there were 4.3 million employed women over the age of 45. Today, there are 8.9 million, equivalent to 38%.
The employment rate for women over 40 has increased and will continue to rise, which means that more women than ever will be experiencing menopause. Whereas in 2005 women between the ages of 40 and 60 represented 33% of the employed female population, today they represent 41%.
But it is also true that we can observe a great drain of women's talent at this age. According to an IMCO analysis based on the ENOE, the largest voluntary resignation from the labor force is among women between 45 and 54 years of age.
The growth and aging of the population and labor force, the increased participation of women in the economy, and the greater weight of women over 40 in the female employed population indicate that there will be more women experiencing menopause in the labor force in these and future years.
On balance we can expect that 40 percent of the workforce will experience, is experiencing or has experienced menopause.
Menopause costs us, but not taking care of it costs us even more.
All of this costs a lot and will cost more and more. According to the Mayo Clinic, it costs menopausal women in the United States $1.8 billion in lost work time per year. To the Canadian economy, the Menopause Association of Canada has estimated that the cost of menopause to the economy is $2.5 billion a year. And according to Forbes, menopause costs the global economy, in terms of lost productivity and health care costs, $810 billion annually.
In Mexico, it is urgent to estimate how much menopause costs women, the health system, businesses and the economy. To date, we have not quantified it. We need to quantify the costs associated with women who voluntarily leave the labor force or lose their jobs due to menopausal symptoms. We also need to measure the costs to the health care system of care for diseases concurrent with menopause such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression.
If we were aware of these data, there would probably already be public policies designed to provide comprehensive care for women in menopause.
In our country there are huge gaps in data and evidence about the impact menopause has on work and the cost to women and our country's economy. We need to count and measure. Let's promote a feminism of data.
What we do know is that today the costs are paid by women, their families, as well as employers and society in general.
Only through public policy can we transform the menopausal experience for ALL women.
Today there are many women in menopause, we are going to be more and it will cost us more and more. Menopause is a clear public policy challenge.
Together we can break the taboo of menopause, close the gaps in knowledge and access to quality comprehensive care, as well as design public policies that break down barriers to the exercise of the right to health and full participation in the workforce by designing inclusive and discrimination-free work environments for women in menopause.
What can we do from the public policy standpoint?
We can educate better by including menopause in basic education curricula and by training the medical professional.
We can communicate better by designing awareness campaigns aimed at the population in general and women in particular.
We can provide better support by generating best practice guidelines for employers.
We can learn more and learn better by designing measures to close information and data gaps.
We can invest more and better, earmarking resources to generate better understanding and better care for women's health.
What can employers do?
Employers can support women in this stage: creating healthy, safe, inclusive and discrimination-free work environments, improving organizational culture, training in diversity, equality and inclusion, taking occupational health measures, implementing absenteeism policies, support and accompaniment groups, as well as flexible work, among others. We need equality in the workplace.
What can we do from civil society?
As organizations, we can contribute to closing the knowledge and care gaps in women's health.
With these actions and others, we can achieve the full participation of women in the labor market and the full exercise of women's right to health at all stages of life, including menopause.
It's women's time. Let's break the taboo. Let's conquer the next frontier of inclusion. Let's imagine and build an empowering and liberating menopause experience for the women of today and the women of tomorrow. We have a great opportunity to tell our best story.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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