Sophie pushes for menopausal women to get job support

MENOPAUSAL women must not be forced to “slope off into the shadows”, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, has said, as she joins a campaign against their “tragic” loss from the workforce.

The Countess, who is 56 and the first member of the Royal family to try to break the stigma of the menopause, said women were “fabulous in our 40s” and beyond, and should be celebrated.

As patron of the Wellbeing of Women charity, she has helped launch the Menopause Workplace Pledge to support the five million women aged 45 to 60 who should be at the peak of their careers. “Women having to leave the workplace because of the menopause is tragic,” the Countess said at a meeting to launch the campaign.

“Together, we can support the thousands of women out there who form the backbone of our workforce.

“We cannot let anyone leave the workplace feeling that they have got to slope off into the shadows.”

The Countess and other women including Gabby Logan, the broadcaster, and Caroline Nokes, the Tory MP, have been urged by the charity’s chairman Prof Dame Lesley Regan to become “menopause warriors”.

The Countess has spoken of her own experience of the menopause, recalling how she found herself lost for words on royal engagements “like somebody’s gone and taken your brain out”.

The Menopause Workplace Pledge calls on employers to understand the issue, speak about it respectfully and provide proactive support for women who need it. Research by Bupa suggests 900,000 women in the UK have left their jobs as a result of the menopause.