British MPs put menopause policies on New Zealand debate list

As British MPs push for women to be entitled to menopause leave, a Kiwi academic says businesses need to be willing to confront the topic here.

In the United Kingdom, Labour MP Carolyn Harris and Conservative MP Rachel Maclean have called for workplaces to have menopause policies, just as they have maternity policies.

Menopause, a natural decline in reproductive hormones, typically affects women aged 45-55.

‘‘You wouldn’t dream of having a workplace where people weren’t entitled to certain things because they were pregnant, and it is exactly the same for women with the menopause,’’ Harris told The Guardian.

Dr Anna Ponnampalam, a reproductive biologist at Auckland University, said that while maternity policies were increasingly common, the same conversations had not happened around period issues or menopause.

Menopause was still largely stigmatised and hardly discussed, she said.

Having specific facilities and encouraging discussion and openness about menopause in workplaces would go a long way to creating a more positive, efficient place to work, she said.

That included allowing flexible working hours and ensuring women could take time off for their health and wellbeing.

She also said businesses could consider office temperature, ventilation, and providing access to cold water and ‘‘rest areas’’, similar to breastfeeding rooms.

Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter said menopause could be a difficult time for women.

The Government was not currently working on anything specific to menopause but work on closing the gender pay gap had looked at normalising flexible work practices, she said.

That would create working environments that were more responsive to employees.