Cracking the Menopause by Mariella Frostrup

Author:Mariella Frostrup
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK

Breadth of support

Here is where the UK can give itself a round of applause. We are in advance of the curve – to use management speak (I think) – when it comes to menopause support in the workplace. ‘The UK is further ahead on this than most other countries,’ agrees Jo Brewis, co-author of an excellent 2017 government report about menopause,9 and also Professor of People and Organizations in the Faculty of Business and Law at the Open University. ‘An extraordinary number of organizations in the private, public and voluntary sectors are being reached.’ Yet we need a hundred per cent of employers to offer training and support, so that’s bad news for the rest of the world, who aren’t doing as well, and hardly cause for celebration in the UK, where the number of women who’ve told me they felt in any way supported in their workplace is . . . zero!

I genuinely assumed that traditionally male-dominated job sectors would be incredibly resistant to education about women’s problems, but – and I suspect there’s a certain amount of arse-covering going on – this isn’t the case. And, to be completely fair, it sounds as though seminars and talks on the subject are being taken seriously.

‘It’s a drum beat which is gaining momentum,’ says Deborah Garlick. Her company, Henpicked: Menopause in the Workplace, reached over one million employees between 2019 and 2020, training them on the subject of menopause, which is a reassuring statistic. She has just launched official menopause-friendly accreditation for companies. ‘Being menopause friendly is beneficial to employers and employees.’

Menopause trainer Julie Dennis runs similar workshops. ‘It’s a myth that men aren’t interested in the subject. I think they’re scared of saying the wrong thing and that a menopause seminar is going to be a man-bashing session. Every woman had to bring a male colleague to one session I did, and you could pretty much see the fingernail marks on the wall. However, during the course of the training, they became more comfortable, informed and open to talking about it.’

Then there’s firefighting, a hot enough job at the best of times. There is a persistent picture in my head, which Helen Haddon, senior HR Partner at Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, steadfastly refuses to indulge, of cohorts of handsome male firefighters nodding sympathetically during a menopause workshop, and then carrying all the women out, slung over their shoulders.

Joking aside, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service has done a sterling job of sensibly implementing measures to support menopausal women. ‘Female firefighters are working till an older age, with the added pressure of having to maintain a certain level of fitness and in a male-dominated environment,’ she tells me. Here, again, women are worried about being seen as less able or needing special treatment, which is why they’re reluctant to come forward.

There isn’t always access to facilities, but in Derbyshire they asked women what would be helpful and put simple practices in place, such as information on their intranet, menopause workshops and workplace champions, to whom women could speak in confidence.

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