Tackling Taboo Topics: A Review of the Three Ms in Working Women’s Lives

Abstract

In North America and Western Europe, women now compose almost half the workforce but still face disparities in pay and promotions. We suggest that women’s natural experiences of the three Ms (i.e., menstruation, maternity, and menopause) are taboo topics in ways that may constrain women’s careers. We propose that the three Ms are particularly incongruent with expectations at intersecting career stages (i.e., a job market newcomer having menstrual discomfort, an early career professional breastfeeding, a company leader getting hot flashes), with implications for work outcomes. In this review, we tackle the taboo of the three Ms by reviewing the evidence for how menstruation, maternity, and menopause are each linked to (1) hormonal and physiological changes, (2) societal beliefs and stereotypes, and (3) work affect, cognition, and behavior. We conclude by proposing novel implications for incorporating the three Ms into existing theoretical frameworks (i.e., work-nonwork spillover; stigma and disclosure; occupational health) and presenting new research questions and practices for understanding and addressing the ways that women’s health intersects with career trajectories.

“Midlife crisis” on the road to successful workforce aging

“…For women, the stereotype is being emotionally out of control and unpredictable (e.g., Burke, 2016), and for men, the stereotype is acting impulsively in ways that bolster feeling powerful (e.g., buying sports cars, having affairs; Petersen, 2020). Stereotypes about midlife may be particularly harmful for working women (Grandey et al, 2020) but ambivalent for men. Unfortunately, no known empirical work provides direct evidence comparing gender and midlife stereotypes, with most studies focused on "older" individuals age 55 and up or conflating midlife (40) and older employees (e.g., Finkelstein et al, 1995;Gordon & Arvey, 2004;Ng & Feldman, 2012).…”

“…Midlife refers to a developmental life stage "only loosely tied to age boundaries but is defined and characterized by the myriad of social roles (broadly defined) that people take on, occupy, and feel responsible for" (Infurna et al, 2020, p. 473). It is a time of change and transition, including hormonal and physiological changes, societal stigma and stereotypes, and personal identity "crises" that intersect with work experiences (Grandey et al, 2020). At work, midlife is a critical time in career trajectories, as 50 is the average age when employees tend to hold upper leadership positions and acquire valued work resources (Cron & Slocum, 1986;Korn Ferry Institute, 2016, Kooij et al, 2019.…”

“…Finally, midlife is the only adult demographic age group (45-54) that is projected to have losses in the U.S. labor force, suggesting recruitment or retention issues (Toossi & Torpey, 2017). In brief, midlife is a critical inflection point for later health, productivity, and retention, yet this aging stage is overlooked in the process model and generally in the workforce aging literature (Grandey et al, 2020;Reitz et al, 2020).…”

Expanding Research on Working Women More Globally: Identifying and Remediating Current Blindspots

“…The consequences of these bodily experiences extend beyond physical symptoms to affect women's lives and livelihoods, including their relationships and ability to work. Some research, predominantly focused on the experiences of western industrialized contexts, has begun to hypothesize about the daily effects of menstruation on women's workplace experiences; however, the effects of menstruation on women's work lives varies dramatically depending on women's social class and culture (Grandey et al, 2019;Motro et al, 2019;United Nations Population Fund, 2019).…”

“…When women are socially isolated in codified cultural practice, they lose opportunities. In Western countries in which menstruating women are not formally ostracized, stereotypes about their inabilities to work effectively due to emotionality and incompetence persist (Grandey et al, 2019). When cultural practices condone social ostracization of menstruating women, the repercussions for their ability to work and be perceived as viable workers across the lifespan is greatly diminished, since the ages of menstruation overlap with the ages of the majority of productive employment years (United Nations Population Fund, 2019).…”