On the 24th of January, the government rejected the menopause bill that would make menopause a protected characteristic and pilot a workplace leave policy in England.
The Women and Equalities Committee has now written a letter asking them to reconsider. It remains to be seen whether there will be any further changes.
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The Women and Equalities Committee of the House of Commons stated that the impact of menopause on women in the workplace was a “missed opportunity to protect vast numbers of talented and experienced women from leaving the workforce”.
The committee created a report with recommendations built on the effects of menopause. They critiqued the government’s “glacial” progress on this issue.
The report was first published in July 2022. It said that “the current law does not sufficiently protect women experiencing menopause and does not offer proper redress to those who suffer menopause-related discrimination, with evidence that many women have to demonstrate their menopausal symptoms amount to a disability to get redress”.
The committee believed because of this the current laws around menopause in the workplace are “haemorrhage talent”.
The government responded in January and said they wouldn’t be launching a consultation on these recommendations.
They believed it would “inadvertently create new forms of discrimination”.
The government identified these discriminations against men who could be “suffering from long-term medical conditions or eroding existing protections”.
The solution from the government was to encourage employers to implement workplace menopause policies. They stated, “we are concerned that specific menopause leave may be counterproductive to achieving this goal.”
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Professionals on menopause have said although it’s good to see employers taking menopause seriously, the wider issues of this problem are still being solved.
Menopause has been ignored for many years. So, employers and employees can’t expect that implementing a policy will quickly fix an ongoing issue. Many employees going through menopause must leave their jobs or reduce their hours, which ultimately damages their careers.
Professionals in this field have also said that the core of the issue is that menopause is still taboo. To see a great impact on improving menopause in the workplace, society must normalise talking about menopause inside and outside of the workplace.
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Employers could implement the menopause policy into existing policies. This could include things like the definition of menopause, the symptoms, how managers can support staff and directing menopausal women to any external support.
Overhauling policies could also help. Employers could implement equal opportunities, flexible working, and sickness absence policies.
It could also be beneficial for employers to train staff on the issue. This could help stop the taboo.
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Menopause in the workplace could have negative effects on your business and your employees. Although the government has not accepted a consultation into this matter, employers can still do a lot to support their staff.
If you are an employer and need more information about creating policies, we can help.
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Menopause usually happens in people between the ages of 45 and 55 who were assigned female at birth. It can sometimes happen earlier because of medical or genetic reasons.
Employers could implement new policies for people struggling with menopause. These could include flexible working, sick leave and equal opportunities policies.
People going through menopause experience physical and mental symptoms. Some of these include hot flushes, difficulty sleeping, palpitations, headaches, low mood, anxiety, mood swings and brain fog.
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