Still showing up... but running on empty.
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I have been thinking about this for some time. When we talk about women’s experiences at work, we often discuss caregiving responsibilities, career breaks, discrimination, and workplace culture. These are all important factors. However, I rarely hear conversations about how major hormonal changes throughout a woman’s life may affect how she feels, how she functions, her confidence, productivity, and career decisions.
Women experience several major biological transitions, including menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum recovery, perimenopause, and menopause. While for some women, going through these stages can cause many symptoms, including pain, fatigue, sleep difficulties, anxiety, alterations to their mood, and lack of concentration.
This is not about claiming that females are inferior. Females have always been immensely capable. The question is whether employers are aware that women may experience major biological changes while continuing to contribute, perform and succeed.
Research has shown that menstrual symptoms can affect the productivity of an employee. A large survey of 32,000 women showed that most women go to work even if they have already had symptoms. The findings showed that women tend to reduce their functioning during work hours rather than taking a leave of absence.
Similarly, research on menopause has shown that symptoms such as insomnia, fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating can affect some women’s workplace experiences and career decisions and well-being.
The discussion of the gender pay gap is mainly focused on family obligations, career breaks, prejudice and corporate culture, which are very important. However, what I would like to add to this topic is that we should speak more about women’s health throughout the life cycle and how this might affect women’s confidence and productivity at work, their career, and the entire working process.
This is not an argument in favour of lowering the requirements for women or treating them with privileges. It is about acknowledging the reality and creating conditions in which talented women can flourish.
It would be interesting to learn about the experience of other women.
Have you ever experienced any changes leading to changes in your work, confidence, productivity, career and pay?
What in your opinion should employers, colleagues and society know about this side of women’s lives?
References:
Schoep ME, et al. (2019). Productivity loss due to menstruation-related symptoms: a nationwide cross-sectional survey among 32,748 women.BMJ Open
UK Government Office for Science. Menopause and workplace productivity. gov.uk
