Often, I wonder what is next in the efforts towards having a gender-balanced workplace. Corporate India today is conscious of building an equitable workspace. The 2022 Avtar & Seramount Best Companies for Women in India is a testimony of this statement, with women’s representation rising from 25% in 2016– when the study was launched– to 34.8% in 2022.
The business, talent, and culture cases of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) are well established today. Paternal leave is slowly but naturally becoming a part of policies and programs. Flexibility at work, infrastructural changes, shift in mindsets towards gender, LGBTQ, generations, people with different abilities, and inclusion are making steady progress.
Despite the DEI efforts, are we missing a point in the needle? When we speak of women off-ramping from their careers in their early 30s or late 30s to raise their families, little do we anticipate that the same women will face a certain huddle when they return to work. This stage is called menopause and puts temporary but worrying halts in women’s careers.
According to Mayo Clinic, menopause marks the end of a woman’s menstrual cycle. Menopause can happen in your 40s or 50s, but the average age is now between 45–55 years in India.
Now, this is the time a woman professional typically rises to a senior leadership role, even if she is someone who has come blazing all guns post a career break.
Menopause is a big deal. It is not just the physiological changes – hot flashes, joint pain, declining strength and fitness, and migraine. It is also mentally challenging – insomnia, depression, weight gain, anxiety, hot-headedness, and low levels of confidence.
Two years ago, when I found myself gasping for energy after a simple workout, had dramatic bouts of headaches, oversleeping, or not sleeping at all, I knew this was not normal. Though I managed health, fitness, and emotional swings through conscious lifestyle choices– all these symptoms were startling and overwhelming. Experiencing these, I realized these are not a woman’s health problem but a DEI challenge for organizations.
With an average age of a CEO between 45 – 55 years, women climb up the corporate ladder to rise to the fullest of their potential during menopause. Faced with challenging physiological symptoms their body starts betraying them. Women at this age also experience other morbidities such as thyroid, diabetes, fluctuating blood pressure, etc. Not that men don’t experience any of these, but women who have traveled thus far managing the double binds of work-life integration now experience multi-morbidity at yet another critical career stage. As per health experts, women experience 34 different symptoms during menopause.
As per the statistics available, 8 out of 10 menopausal women are working. And they either take several sick leaves or drop off from their careers. A study conducted across five countries found that women are making choices about their careers during menopause. The study indicates that 8% of women experiencing menopause resigned from senior positions.
The emotions and bodily changes that these women experience during menopause are temporary. However, with a majority of senior women professionals in their menopausal stage choosing to quit their careers, the already leaky talent pipeline will remain unfixed for more than one reason. The seventh edition of the BCWI-MICI study covering 351 companies spanning different industry sectors participating revealed that representation of women at entry levels continues to increase (from 33% in 2017 to 38% in 2022). The women’s talent pipeline continues to bleed – it goes down by 9% in managerial roles (23% in 2017 and 26% women in 2022), further dips to 18% at the senior managerial level and 17% at the corporate executive level.
Just as we have normalized pregnancy and post-partum support, we need to start talking about mental and hormonal challenges for women in the age group between 45 – 55 years. It is a must that inclusive organizations devise a well-structured, thoughtful policy for employees going through menopause. That said, we cannot blindly commit to a menopause policy, however, policymakers will have to understand the journey of a woman professional, which will have to include menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause, eventually. New-age and progressive companies’ menstrual leave announcements are a step towards removing the taboos before menopause. The journey has begun.
To make it simple, managers and leaders can begin taking simple steps:
- Provide temporary or permanent work-from-home options to women experiencing menopause.
- Destigmatize the stage by having open conversations with your women colleagues.
- Provide cool zones to handle hot flashes.
- Offer counseling as a measure of mental health.
What can women themselves do to normalize this yet another crucial life stage in their professional circles?
- Do your research and build a support system that enables your career continuum
- Seek help.
- Keep your mental health advisor on your speed dial.
- Don’t be hard on yourself. Let it go when things are not under your control.
- Have intentional and open conversations with your manager.
- Excuse yourself from late evening meetings if they stress you out.
- Your support system is the backbone of your professional life. Ensure the system is well-carved and protected.
