Women's Health in/and Work: Menopause as an Intersectional Experience.

Kathleen Riach,Gavin Jack

doi:10.3390/ijerph182010793

Abstract

This paper employs an intersectional lens to explore menopausal experiences of women working in the higher education and healthcare sectors in Australia. Open-text responses from surveys across three universities and three healthcare settings were subject to a multistage qualitative data analysis. The findings explore three aspects of menopause experience that required women to contend with a constellation of aged, gendered and ableist dynamics and normative parameters of labor market participation. Reflecting on the findings, the paper articulates the challenges of menopause as issues of workplace inequality that are rendered visible through an intersectional lens. The paper holds a range of implications for how to best support women going through menopause at work. It emphasizes the need for approaches to tackle embedded and more complex modes of inequality that impact working women’s menopause, and ensure that workforce policy both protects and supports menopausal women experiencing intersectional disadvantage.

Highlights

IntroductionAs result of population ageing and a concomitant rise in workforce participation amongst women aged 45–64 years in OECD countries [2,3], large and increasing numbers of women are experiencing menopausal transition while in paid employment
This paper employs an intersectional lens to explore menopausal experiences of women working in the higher education and healthcare sectors in Australia
I often feel that some of the symptoms of menopause for me may be overtaken by the aspects of self-management that I have to do for my diabetes etc. (HE325)

Summary

Introduction

As result of population ageing and a concomitant rise in workforce participation amongst women aged 45–64 years in OECD countries [2,3], large and increasing numbers of women are experiencing menopausal transition while in paid employment. This is because menopause (the final menstrual period) typically occurs in the age range of 45–55 years for most women, and on average, at 51 years [4] in Western societies. Studies show that women experience a range of vasomotor, psychological, physical and urogenital symptoms in response to different extents (e.g., more or less frequent, or more or less problematic/bothersome) [6], and that symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats may last, on average, 7–10 years [7]

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