Episode 145: Working through Menopause
/“Sometimes we hear, ‘the guys don’t understand what’s going on,’ meaning the male line managers. But it’s the female line managers who have just as little information about it too.”
Photo by seb_ra/iStock / Getty Images
“We play at being superhuman all the time. And I think if more of us can have these honest conversations then there’s less chance of us being discriminated against. ”
You're commuting to work and you start overheating; you're suddenly feeling more anxious about everything; you can't sleep properly, and your colleagues and family are driving you nuts.
Julie Dennis
Many women in their forties start feeling these signs of peri-menopause. And in the UK, some employers are actually moving to support their female staff as they go through this transition. But menopause still remains largely under-discussed, particularly in the youth-obsessed US (why would you admit you're menopausal when the workplace is already sexist and ageist?) In this show we meet Julie Dennis, a menopause coach, and Rebekah Bostan, an employee of a global company - each is determined to bring more transparency to one of the last workplace taboos.
You can also read a transcript of the show.
Further reading: Here’s a blog post Rebekah wrote about peri-menopause in the workplace.
You can learn more about Julie Dennis and her work here and read more about her book, the Hot Flush Freedom Challenge, here.
This piece, Puberty for the Middle-Aged, first got me thinking about peri-menopause.
If you have something to add to the discussion please post a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.