Menopause and work: A narrative literature review about menopause, work and health

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Menopause is part of working women’s lives. In Western countries, labour market patterns are changing rapidly: women’s labour participation has increased, the percentage of full-time working women is rising, and retirement age is increasing. OBJECTIVE: This narrative literature study aims to provide an insight in the state of the art in the literature about the relationship between menopause, work and health and to identify knowledge gaps as input for further research. METHODS: The search was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE and ScienceDirect. The final set includes 36 academic articles, 27 additional articles related to the topic and 6 additional sources. RESULTS: Research on menopause, work and health is scarce. Results are grouped thematically as follows: Menopause and (1) a lack of recognizing; (2) sickness absence and costs; (3) work ability; (4) job characteristics; (5) psychosocial and cultural factors; (6) health; (7) mental health, and (8) coping and interventions. Work ability of women with severe menopausal complaints may be negatively affected. CONCLUSIONS: Due to taboo, menopause remains unrecognised and unaddressed within an organisational context. New theoretical and methodological approaches towards research on menopause, work and health are required in order to match the variety of the work contexts world-wide.

Minding menopause in patients with cognitive impairment: a patients' perspective and reflections on clinical practice

“…The personal impact in M.'s case is clear. But the social impact of perimenopause is also evident in terms of women's ability to work: over three-quarters of women report serious problems relating to the demands of their occupation 12 . Especially in women with severe perimenopausal symptoms, impaired employability is therefore a distinct possibility.…”

“A part of being a woman, really”: Menopause at work as “dirty” femininity

“…There is nascent interest in management and organization studies (MOS) to better understand the experience and impact of menopause at work (see for example, Atkinson, Beck et al, 2021;Atkinson, Carmichael et al, 2021;Beck et al, 2018Beck et al, , 2021Brewis et al, 2020;Butler, 2020;Steffan, 2021;Steffan & Potočnik, 2022). As increasingly more women over 45 are engaged in labor market participation (Verdonk et al, 2022), policy attention is also increasingly being directed toward menopause at work (e.g., Brewis et al, 2017). Atkinson, Carmichael et al (2021) contend, however, that menopause at work "remains under-theorized and poorly understood in work and employment literature" (p. 658).…”

Climacteric status at age 46 is associated with poorer work ability, lower 2-year participation in working life, and a higher 7-year disability retirement rate: a Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study

“…15,16 To date, a few studies have shown that menopausal symptoms may be negatively associated with work ability and well-being at work, 3,[17][18][19] whereas other studies have reported the need for further research on this subject. [19][20][21] However, most previous studies on menopause and work ability have concentrated on women undergoing menopause within the average range of 45 to 55 years. The only exception was a longitudinal survey-based study in the United Kingdom that also focused on younger women.…”