Menopause may finally be having a moment in government — as many are saying — with more attention turning to the experience of 2 million women who enter this phase of life each year. More than a moment, though, we need a movement — one that invests in better understanding and further destigmatizing menopause.
This is an area that has been woefully underfunded. So little research funding goes to women’s health and only a subset of that goes to menopause. We don’t even really know the scale of this neglect. It’s unclear how much money the National Institutes of Health invests in studying menopause because menopause doesn’t even have its own code for tracking purposes.
The Menopause Research Act of 2022 would have required the NIH to identify how much funding it had deployed for menopause. It also would have allocated $100 million to new menopause research. But the bill went nowhere. Congress should resurrect that bill — or one like it — that prioritizes funding to advance scientific understanding of menopause.
The NIH has made progress in ensuring that more women participate in clinical trials, proving it can wield its clout to change research practices and priorities. Now it needs to use its considerable power and influence to make sure that we truly understand the safety and efficacy of available menopause treatments and to foster the development of new treatments.
Growing up, I only ever heard menopause mentioned in whispers, if I heard about it at all. Today, thankfully, women are increasingly speaking up about their symptoms and their needs. Government and corporations need to answer this call.
Perhaps the most important step toward removing stigmas about menopause is to improve our collective understanding of this normal hormonal process. The best way to understand menopause is to invest in scientific research into the symptoms that can plague women and into treatments that may bring women relief.
In addition to the government’s efforts, corporate America also must do a better job attending to the needs of women in menopause. Recognizing a massive market opportunity, startups have been rushing in to help women manage menopause, creating new products and platforms to deliver resources and care.
Now, it’s time for the rest of the business community to catch up.
Beyond just eye rolling and dismissal, which may feel familiar to millions of midlife women, women can face real hardships at work from menopause. A recently published Mayo Clinic study quantified the impact of menopause on working women.
The study, conducted with more than 4,000 working women ages 45 to 60, found that 13 percent had experienced adverse work outcomes related to menopause symptoms. For example, 11 percent reported missing work because of their symptoms. The worse a woman’s symptoms, the more likely she is to have a bad outcome at work, the study showed. The researchers estimated that menopause causes $1.8 billion in lost productivity per year in the United States and that menopause costs $26.6 billion annually when accounting for medical costs as well.
To combat these costs — for women and their employers alike — companies should enact policies that acknowledge, respect and support women’s experiences. Employers can provide women with tangible support through strategies such as flexible work-from-home options, the ability to control the temperature in their workspace, dress-code flexibility and time off for self-care. One recent survey showed that 15 percent of large corporations offer or plan to offer benefits that would help women who are experiencing menopause symptoms. That’s a big improvement from last year’s rate of 4 percent, but more companies should take these needs seriously.
It might help motivate corporations to expand their benefits if Congress required basic accommodations for women experiencing menopause. Congress can (and should) take steps to make this a reality for America’s working women.
Despite progress, we still have a long way to go to destigmatize menopause. HealthyWomen, where I am a senior policy advisor, has been surveying women about menopause for years, finding that premenopausal and perimenopausal are less likely than others to proactively talk to their healthcare providers about their health concerns as they age, leaving many ill-prepared for menopause.
A more recent survey conducted by HealthyWomen earlier this year showed that a significant portion of women who discussed menopause with their healthcare provider did so only after they, themselves, brought it up. Being able to talk openly about menopause — and even removing the stigma from the word itself — is key. That’s as true in the doctor’s office as it is in the workplace as it is in the research lab.
This Menopause Awareness Month, we need to raise our voices to ensure that employers and research institutions give menopause its full due. Midlife women deserve at least that.
Martha Nolan is a senior policy advisor at HealthyWomen. HealthyWomen works to educate women ages 35 to 64 to make informed health choices.