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Attention: health, industrial, social affairs and women's correspondents, planning desks, women's and health and safety magazines

employers must do more for women working through the menopause

Many of the UK’s two and a half million working women who are in their fifties will be going through the menopause and many of these women’s jobs could be making their symptoms worse. Yet the majority of employers are ignoring the issue, according to ‘Working Through the Change’, a TUC report out on the eve of International Women’s Day (Friday).

Seventy per cent of women aged 45-59 across the UK are currently in work and most women experience the menopause between the ages of 48 and 55. But ‘Working through the change’, which is based on a recent survey of 500 worklpace health and safety reps, found that only one out of five employers provided information about the menopause. Only 2% of respondents said health and safety policies covered menopause-related issues and 45% said their managers didn’t recognise problems associated with the menopause.

Further, one in three (31%) respondents reported management criticism of menopause-related sick leave , over a third cited embarrassment or difficulties in discussing the menopause with their employers, and one in five (19%) spoke of criticism, ridicule and even harassment from their managers when the subject was broached. Respondents said that the symptoms of the menopause most likely to be made worse by work were hot flushes (53%), headaches (46%), tiredness and a lack of energy (45%) [see notes to editors for more results].

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Despite the large number of older women in employment, the menopause is rarely seen as a workplace issue. There is no excuse for the silence, embarrassment, confusion and inaction around the menopause - something which all women go through.

'The health of women in later years depends very much on their health when they are working through the menopause and employers are not doing enough to protect them.'

‘Working through the change’ recommends that employers should:

• Provide cold drinking water, easily adjustable temperature and humidity controls; encourage flexible working and reduce long hours; avoid penalising staff for taking frequent toilet breaks, provide quiet rest facilities and advice for female employees.

• Avoid negative and discriminatory attitudes towards older women at work by recognising the potential problems related to the menopause and provide appropriate information and training to their managers.

• Develop policies in consultation with unions on the menopause to cover sickness absence, paid leave for treatment, occupational health screening, flexible working patterns and rest breaks.

The TUC also wants the Health and Safety Commission to produce guidance for employers and employees on the menopause. And the TUC is calling on unions to provide women workers with advice about the menopause and employment rights and to develop awareness-raising courses for union reps. A page now open on the TUC website, http://www.tuc.org.uk/menopause enables working women to tell us about their experience and views of the menopause and work.

Case studies from ‘Working through the change’:

• Barbara was a senior civil servant, who as she approached fifty began to have irregular and heavy periods, which were sometimes so bad that she had to go home sick. Her GP put her on HRT, but this made the bleeding worse, and she began to suffer from depression and uncharacteristic and unpredictable mood swings. Her managers were completely unsympathetic and told her to 'pull herself together'. They eventually allowed her to work for some of the week from home, but were also giving her unreasonable deadlines to meet, and implying that she wasn’t pulling her weight. After four weeks sick leave, she asked to return to work part time. Her request was refused so she resigned. Barbara now has another job, where her colleagues and managers are much more sympathetic. She says: 'I am coping much better with changes in my physical state now that I no longer have to experience the pressure to conform to male behaviour patterns, long hours culture and the boys club mentality. Now I am valued for my intelligence and experience, I can laugh and joke with male and female colleagues about my heavy days and hot flushes. They are regarded as no more significant to my ability to do my job than a heavy cold or jet lag.'

• Sarah is a mobile library assistant in the South of England. Her biggest problem is the lack of toilets and she says there is no real commitment from her managers to improve the situation. They have even suggested that she finds suitable toilet stops in readers’ homes and pubs along her route. This means that she has to control her fluid intake, which worsens her health. She has no timetabled tea breaks, and says the temperature and lack of ventilation inside the mobile vans in the summer is quite unbearable. Sarah wants her employer to take her menopause more seriously and treat her requests much more sympathetically.

Notes to Editors:

Further survey results:

Symptoms recorded as likely to be made worse by work: sweating (39%), anxiety attacks (33%), aches and pains (30%), dry skin and eyes (29%), and short term memory loss (29%). Two-thirds of the safety reps (66%) reported that high workplace temperatures were causing problems for menopausal women, and poor ventilation was cited by just over half (52%). Twenty six per cent of respondents complained about poor or non-existent rest facilities, 21% were compromised by poor or inaccessible toilet facilities, and 19% had difficulty getting cold drinking water.

‘Working through the change’ has been written for the TUC by health and safety expert Jane Paul. Copies of the full report are available from the press office. It will be available on the web at www.tuc.org.uk/menopause and single copies are free with a large SAE.

Contacts: Media enquiries: Ben Hurley on 020 7467 1248 or 07626 317903 (pager) or email bhurley@tuc.org.uk

Other enquiries: Owen Tudor, TUC health and safety specialist, on 020 7467 1325 or 07788 715261 (mobile) or otudor@tuc.org.uk

Press release (1,100 words) issued 7 Mar 2003