Two-thirds of menopausal women say they face workplace discrimination

A new survey claims that over two-thirds (69 percent) of people in the UK believe women face discrimination at work when going through menopause. According to the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, almost 8 out of 10 menopausal people are in work. Forth, which provides hormone tests for women surveyed over 2,000 people to reveal attitudes towards discrimination against women with menopause in the workplace.

The survey suggests that just 13.8 percent of people believe women never face discrimination in the workplace due to menopause compared with 69 percent believing menopausal women are subject to discrimination. Breaking this down by gender, 74 percent of women and 64 percent of men said ‘Yes’. However, almost 1 in 5 men (17.7 percent) believe that women never experience discrimination at work due to menopause.

Those aged 16-24 were most likely to think women faced discrimination, despite being the age group least likely to know about or understand menopause. Nearly 50 percent of this age group believed menopausal women face some discrimination. This might be because they have access to more information due to social media, or because family members, such as their mothers, may be going through menopause.

When it comes to what kind of discrimination menopausal women face, one of the main topics was being passed up for promotions. Another common topic was the symptoms women experience needing to be taken more seriously by their line managers and colleagues.