Menopause – “The Elephant in the Boardroom”

This is a guest post from the fabulous Heather Travis, CEO Travis Research Europe Ltd, talking about the elephant in the boardroom ahead of World Menopause Awareness Day on Sunday 18^th October.

Multinational corporation’s are stipulating that they require more female leaders, in a large number of cases shortlists have to have at least one female in order to comply with internal diversity policies.

Is has to be taken into consideration that the target audience are often in the menopause, perimenopause or postmenopausal stage. At a time when menopausal women are being told to ease up on stress, make more time for exercise & wellness and get into a better sleep patterns, they are also being encouraged to take on key leadership roles.

Perimenopause or menopause transition begins several years before menopause, the average length of perimenopause is four years and ends when a woman has gone 12 consecutive months without having her period when she enters the postmenopausal stage. It usually starts in a women’s 40’s, but can start in her 30’s. Some of the symptoms of menopause are hot flushes day & night, fatigue, irritability, difficulty sleeping, nausea, forgetfulness, break through bleeding, urinary issues, headaches, slowed metabolism and anxiety. Once into postmenopausal the symptoms last, on average, 4-8 years settling for the majority in post menopause but they often decrease in frequency and intensity. According to a study from the Society for Endocrinology one in four women will experience serious menopause symptoms.

Before writing this blog I spoke to a number of women in senior roles; nearly all brought up the subject of ‘brain fog’ as an example, saying it causes them self-doubt and severe anxiety. All of them considered speaking out about their symptoms but believe it’s a taboo subject and are worried it will appear as a sign of weakness and poor leadership. Medical research charity Wellbeing of Women, found that a quarter of women going through the menopause had considered leaving their jobs as a result. This obviously comes at considerable cost to a business not only losing existing female talent but having the expense of finding new talent and on-boarding.

Menopause is slowly becoming a topic of open discussion in the workplace, with some MNC’s and public sector organisations implementing policies and training, the CIPD have The Menopause at Work – A Practical Guide for People Managers and ACAS have also published guidelines.

The #makemenopausematter campaign which has called for mandatory education and support in the workplace is now being added to the RSE curriculum in secondary school education in England from September 2020. For more information support workshops fact sheets and advice check out Menopause Support.

It would be exciting to receive comments and feedback regarding the policies that companies have or are currently putting in place to address this important age old issue.