Menopause a Silent Journey

girl on a mountain looking at the sun rise

Menopause can cause symptoms that affect work productivity and lead to workplace departure. Despite 77% of women wanting menopause support at work, less than 20% receive it. Fear of stigma often prevents disclosure which may in turn reduce support seeking. Allyship could support menopausal women, but there is a paucity of research on what women want.

Award

MRes | MPhil | PhD | MSc by Research

Start Date

Usually February and October - at individual School's discretion

Research Opportunities

Summary

Menopause can lead to vasomotor symptoms, sleep disturbance, cognitive decline, anxiety, and depressive symptoms (Reicher-Rossler, 2020), which in turn can negatively impact a woman’s work productivity (Das, 2019) and intention to leave the workplace (Brewes, 2020). This may be exacerbated by the lack of support provided in the workplace.

Despite 77% of women wanting information about menopause in the workplace, less than 20% received such information (Beck et al., 2020). This may partly reflect the reluctance to openly discuss or disclose menopause status, especially to male colleagues.

Indeed, Beck et al. (2020) reported that most women do not disclose their menopause status at work, due to fears of stigma and ridicule, that their capabilities will be questioned, or they will be viewed negatively as ‘old’ or ‘past it’. The theory of allyship has been linked to positively impacting those who face workplace bias (Sawyer & Valerio, 2018).

Allyship research includes a variety of terms, including advocates, champions, change agents, mentors, sponsors, and organizational catalysts (Drury & Kaiser, 2014; Smith & Johnson, 2017; Sue, 2017) who act to support members of a disadvantaged group (Center for Women and Business, 2017), and in the case of menopause take action to stop sexism or gender injustice.

Beck et al. (2024) noted that young males recognised the importance of organisational support for menopause, however, they admitted a lack of understanding around menopause and its impact on mental health; which limited their ability to act as Allies, talk about or make menopause visible in the workplace.

Although some research has explored the role of male allyship in relation to the menopause, there is little research exploring women’s perspectives.

Aim

To explore Allyship as a model for supporting and advancing menopausal women in the workplace .

Objectives

To set up a PPI group including key stakeholders
To explore the impact of menopause on women in the workplace
To explore what women want from an allyship model of support
To explore the barriers and facilitators to implementing an allyship model of support from the perspectives of women, those in senior leadership/management positions, HR representatives and equality champions
To inform the development of an allyship model of support for menopausal women in the workplace

Method

A mixed methods approach will be employed. Phase 1 will employ a quantitative design to address objective 2. Phase 2 will employ a descriptive qualitative approach employing interviews/focus groups, analysed using reflective thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2020) to address objectives 3 and 4.

Sample

Women currently working in full or part-time employment who are experiencing the menopausal transition, those in senior leadership/management positions, HR representatives and equality champions.