While over 75% of people working within education are female, according to the National Education Union (NEU), the largest education union, women over the age of 50 are leaving the profession in droves or are reducing their working hours. Since the average age of menopause in the UK is 51, why isn’t more being done within the sector to support women experiencing menopause symptoms?
Understanding Menopause
Menopause is defined by the gradual decline of oestrogen. This can affect women in several ways, including cognitive function, memory and focus, sleep, mood, energy, headaches and joint pain. Menopause ultimately results in the end of a woman’s menstrual cycle. The transition from perimenopause, which may include some of the above symptoms and can occur in the mid-40s, through to post-menopause when periods have stopped for at least 12 months can take up to 14 years. This is a significant portion of an individual’s working life. Therefore, the question around workplace support for these symptoms is an important one.
Challenges Faced by Teachers
The lack of confidence, anxiety, memory lapses, heavy bleeding and hot flushes that are often linked to menopause and perimenopause can be challenging in a role where you are required to stand and teach in front of a room full of students. While one solution for someone struggling may be to reduce to part-time hours, a 2019 study found that going part time can be counterproductive for female teachers, as based on perceptions about commitment, career progression is often limited for women working part time (Brown and Stevenson, 2019).
When it comes to flexible working requests, although these adjustments can be the key to supporting women to thrive at work, the NEU has found that women in education are either not aware of their right to make these requests or are reluctant to do so due to questions around the commitment of part time colleagues, and feeling excluded from internal conversations (Education Conferences UK, 2024).
The dual factors of women in education increasingly seeking part time work and their exclusion from internal conversations means that key policies and practices that may support such women are not being factored into their development. This, according to Schools Week, results in a negative cycle of older women leaving the profession, going part time, or potentially facing unwarranted disciplinary processes (schoolsweek.co.uk, 2021).
The NEU has found that too many women in the sector are facing workplace cases around absence management and capability issues and are raising formal complaints upon being overlooked for progression or promotion.
Menopause Awareness and Support
Menopausal women continue to be the fasted growing demographic of the UK workforce and presents a strong case for investing in their support and development.
The NEU is calling for mandatory menopause training for all school leaders to combat what it perceives as unfair disciplinary claims on the grounds of sickness absence or capability against women experiencing menopause symptoms, noting that older women face the greatest risk of “capability procedures.” According to The Guardian, Karen Kemble, the joint NEU district and branch secretary in Hounslow, London, defined it as “…ageism, misogyny and discrimination,“ (Weale, 2024).
Alongside menopause training for leaders, Daniel Kebede, General secretary of the NEU recommends that Menopausal staff “…be given appropriate flexibility, support, and adjustments – according to their needs – to remove or reduce disadvantages and allow them to work successfully,” (Education Conferences UK, 2024). There are also calls from the NEU for:
- all schools and colleges to have menopause policies,
- for union representatives to have further training on worker rights in this area,
- for employers to perform workplace assessment to ensure that the work environment isn’t exacerbating symptoms.
All of this points to the need for increased menopause awareness and support within the sector, including schools adopting a menopause policy, schools supporting managers to support their team members experiencing menopause symptoms that are impacting their performance at work, ensuring a supportive work environment, both culturally and physically, or providing safe spaces where colleagues can discuss their experiences. Opening up the menopause conversation removes the stigma around it and allows more women to seek support.
More women will experience menopause than childbirth. Supporting women at this life stage not only contributes to personal, mental and financial wellbeing, it also contributes to closing gender gaps, particularly in leadership and supports the retention of knowledge, expertise and experience.
MPower by Enable helps employers to support their employees experiencing menopause symptoms through bespoke one-to-one menopause coaching, menopause champions training, menopause awareness training and peer group facilitation. Get in touch with us to discuss your needs.
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