This January, the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) hosted the roundtable meeting “The Impact of Menopause on Women’s Health: A Work-Life-Health Initiative” to better understand the impact of menopause on women’s health in the workplace and discuss how health care providers, employers, and coworkers can better support women who are working throughout their menopause transition. SWHR greatly thanks members of the Menopause Equity Working Group who attended the meeting and contributed to the robust and insightful conversation.
“I am so happy to be here and hopefully to move the needle for women who are trying to get on with their lives – and who are not past their prime,” said Wen Shen, MD, MPH, Director of the Women’s Wellness & Healthy Aging Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Other working group members from across research, clinical care, law, human resources, and advocacy echoed this sentiment, noting that the “time has come” to have an amplified, public conversation about menopause at work.
Overarching themes from the meeting included the need to dismantle societal stigma around aging; the importance of collaboration as a tool for identifying and closing menopause-related knowledge gaps across diverse stakeholder groups; and the opportunity to apply existing health care workplace policies and benefits to support menopause wellness.
The roundtable’s agenda mirrored SWHR’s organizational pillars of science, policy, and education, with working group members discussing challenges and opportunities in each of these areas. Relevant to science, the group called for standardized menopause education in medical schools; clinician training on workplace accommodations and laws that could support patient well-being; and improved access to and reimbursement for menopause consultations, which patients can and should be able to request. Monica Christmas, MD, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago, speaking from her own experience, shared how difficult it can be to have impactful conversations with patients about their menopause symptoms when appointment times are short and treatment options are limited. “We need time for a dedicated conversation about menopausal symptoms with each patient,” she said. These consultations should not be rushed as part of another conversation or appointment.
For policy, working group members recommended reviewing gender and age biases that exist in employment practices (in order to find and eliminate them) and increasing employee education on workplace rights and protections. Many working group members emphasized the importance of training workplace leadership in menopause education:
“People often don’t leave the workplace because of the work they do, but because of the people, because of the leadership,” said Carleeka Basnight-Menendez, BS, Founder of INSO, Inc.
Further, this workplace support must be diverse and versatile, noted Jessica Brooks-Woods, MPM, PHR, Chief Executive Officer at the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals. She pointed out that nearly half of Americans are employed by small businesses, not large corporations with complex employee benefit and training structures.
During conversations about education opportunities, the group discussed strategies for incorporating menopause training modules into current workplace activities; how to make the value-add case for retaining menopause-age women in the workplace; and the power of organizational collaboration and open conversation to ensure success in this space. Providers need to talk to women about their last period as much as they talk to them about their first period, many working group members noted, expressing the great need for more conversations about menopause as part of menstrual health.
In closing, roundtable participants agreed that everyone who interacts with women throughout midlife and older age needs to be empowered to see themselves as “owners” of the menopause care ecosystem, whether they are internal medicine specialists, nurse practitioners, mental health professionals, employers, health insurance providers, or human resource managers. SWHR will be working on a new menopause workplace resource this summer, building on the Society’s latest midlife and menopause resources. Follow the #SWHRtalksMenopause tag on social media and explore the Menopause focus area webpage to learn more.