Menopause is pushing women out of the workforce– and too few businesses are doing anything about it

Too many women are leaving the workforce in their prime due to unmanaged menopause symptoms. It’s time workplaces recognised the cost of staying silent, writes Megan Hayward.

I was in my 30s when my husband Stephen and I were travelling through Europe on the trip of a lifetime.

We were in Sintra, Portugal—an image out of a fairytale, with buildings painted into the hillside—when I felt something wasn’t right. “Something’s going on with my period,” I said that morning. I went back to our room and found myself stuck on the toilet. I didn’t know it then, but I was experiencing a flooding episode. Half an hour later, I’d pulled myself together, but I felt overwhelmingly emotional. We'd both just recovered from Spanish flu, and my husband, a nurse, reassured me: “I think it’s just that. Don’t worry.” So I brushed it off.

Megan and her husband.

But when we got back to Adelaide, the symptoms escalated. I started getting ocular migraines—scary ones. My vision would cloud over, one eye like looking through mist, the other like a kaleidoscope. A woman once described it as feeling like a live frog being boiled. That’s what it was like for me: a slow, terrifying build.

There was more. Intense pelvic pain that would strike in the middle of meetings, so sharp it would bring tears to my eyes. But it’s not the kind of thing you announce around a boardroom table. It wasn’t short-lived either. It became part of my every day.

There was insomnia—sometimes for years at a time. Night sweats. Constant background pain. And yet, I never had a daytime hot flush. I didn’t tick the “right” boxes.

I was gaslit at work. Told I couldn’t take feedback. That I wasn’t a team player. That I was the problem. Eventually, it ended in a redundancy that felt deeply personal.

Throughout the Senate inquiry into menopause, stories like mine came up again and again—midlife women, confused by what was happening in their bodies and unsupported in the workplace. I was changing. I didn’t feel safe enough to say so. And I had no idea how to ask for help.

If someone had simply said, “You’ve mentioned perimenopause. What do you need? How can we support you?”—things could have been different.

Instead, I tried to fix it myself. I gave up caffeine, alcohol, smoking. I cut sugar. But even when I cleaned everything up, doctors kept saying: “You’re just depressed”. They pushed antidepressants. But I knew this was something else.

Eventually, I began blacking out. I was having iron infusions that didn’t work—my levels kept dropping. Then came the words no one wants to hear: “We need to rule out bowel cancer”. When I went in for the colonoscopy, I was bleeding—again. Another heavy period. The nurse reassured me, “Don’t worry, we’ve seen it all before.” I looked at the gastroenterologist and said, “I’m so sorry,” and he replied, “Just take your underwear off. It’s OK.”

As soon as I did, blood began pouring down one leg. He looked at me and said, “You don’t have cancer. It’s perimenopause”. Finally, someone had named it. Eventually, doctors told me what I needed: oestrogen.

Menopause has 44 recognised symptoms—but it’s like a fingerprint. No two women will experience it the same way. During perimenopause, those symptoms can range from migraines to anxiety to pelvic pain, and most women will experience many of them—for years.

And yet, in most workplaces, we’re still not talking about it.

Despite 72.3 per cent of menopausal women being in work—and women aged 45 to 55 making up a growing share of the workforce—nearly one in three retire before the age of 55. Many cite health issues linked to menopause. Others step back just as their earning power should be hitting its peak.

It’s what’s become known as the menopause tax—and it’s costing women their careers while depriving businesses of valuable leadership and experience.

Time out of the workforce doesn’t just disrupt careers; it has long-term consequences for women’s housing, health, and financial security. These breaks, whether brief or extended, contribute to the persistent gender divide—including a stubborn pay gap, where women still earn just 78 cents to every dollar earned by a man.

When women stop working, they stop earning super. And at retirement, they have on average 38 per cent less superannuation than men—sometimes up to 50 per cent less.

Around 80 per cent of women experience moderate to severe symptoms during menopause. For midlife employees, this natural transition can bring real challenges—many of which go unsupported in Australian workplaces.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. And it starts with a conversation.

How do you talk about menopause at work?

Letting employees lead the conversation is best practice—but they’re unlikely to speak up unless the topic has already been normalised. That starts with embedding menopause awareness into workplace culture: mentioning it during onboarding, offering ongoing access to resources, and creating safe forums to share experiences.

Megan Hayward is now a licensed menopause expert and supports women through perimenopause.

Megan Hayward

Even a simple 45-minute “Lunch and Learn” webinar can make a difference. Just covering the basics—what menopause is, how it can show up, and how it can affect work—can be enough to open up dialogue and reduce stigma. Bringing menopause into your workplace can be as simple as using my mantra: Movement, Mindset, Modify.

• Movement: Start the conversation and run a transformative team workshop.

• Mindset: Challenge stigma and consider reasonable adjustments through a workforce wellbeing lens. Be intentional and inclusive.

• Modify: Review existing policies to explicitly include menopause.

Are workplaces required to have a menopause policy?

Not yet. But Recommendation 7 of the 2024 Senate Inquiry into Menopause encourages employers to develop policies in consultation with staff. A standalone menopause policy sends a strong signal of support—but what matters just as much is embedding menopause awareness into the everyday. For smaller businesses, simply asking employees what support they need can be a powerful starting point.

These might seem like small actions, but they make a big difference—especially when done proactively. Normalising the conversation before it’s urgently needed builds a workplace where women feel seen, supported, and empowered to stay.

I know how powerful that would have been. When I first experienced perimenopause symptoms in my 30s, there wasn’t just stigma—there was silence. I had no idea what was happening. I wish my workplace had mentioned menopause in policies, invited in a guest speaker, or even just put it on the agenda.

Just start. Your midlife employees will notice the effort—and they’ll repay it with loyalty, engagement and leadership.