Opinion

Talking about menopause at work might be a game changer for women’s leadership

Organisations need to lift the taboo and better support menopausal women at work

Menopause can also allow women leaders to explore how to bring their whole self to work, vulnerabilities and all, demonstrating true leadership

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Morning commuters cross a street in Hong Kong’s Central district on August 18. Many women reach the height of their career and leadership capability at the same time that they enter perimenopause and menopause. Photo: Bloomberg

Dr Laura McHale is a leadership psychologist and the managing director of Conduit Consultants, an organisational consultancy based in Hong Kong.

Published: 11:30am, 4 Sep 2021Updated: 7:27pm, 4 Oct 2021

In my work as a leadership psychologist, I have spent years studying and talking to organisations about women’s leadership. But absent from the reams of literature – as well as our workplace discussions – is any mention of the word “menopause”.

This is ironic because many women reach the height of their career and leadership capability at the same time that they enter perimenopause and menopause, often with a significant impact on their physical, cognitive and emotional well-being.

We call this the “menopause taboo” and it’s striking just how taboo it really is. It speaks to a general unease we have in organisations around the physicality of bodies, especially women’s, but also to the many ways we underplay the powerful role of emotions in how we show up at work each day.

Organisations have made great strides in accommodating and supporting women before and after childbirth. But not all professional women are having children: Gen X, who is entering menopause, and subsequent generations have seen more high-status female professionals than ever before, with some of the lowest completed fertility rates in modern history.