Women driven to quit work by symptoms of menopause

MENOPAUSE symptoms have driven one in eight women to quit their job, a survey suggests.

A poll of 3,800 women found that nearly all felt that the menopause, or the months and years leading up to it, known as the perimenopause, had had a negative impact on their careers.

The research was carried out for Dr Louise Newson, who runs Newson Health Research and Education, a notfor-profit organisation. She has worked with celebrities such as Davina Mccall, the television presenter, on raising awareness of women’s experiences of the menopause.

The 12-question survey, which is being presented at this week’s annual conference of the Royal College of GPS in Liverpool, attracted respondents via Dr Newson’s newsletter and social media. It found that 99 per cent of those women felt perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms had had a negative impact on their careers, with more than a third calling the impact significant.

Some 59 per cent had taken time off work, with 18 per cent taking more than eight weeks of sick leave. Half of those who took at least eight weeks of sick leave resigned or took early retirement.

Reasons given for taking time off included reduced efficiency (45 per cent), poor quality of work (26 per cent) and poor concentration (7 per cent).

Overall, a fifth (21 per cent) relinquished the opportunity to apply for a promotion they would have otherwise considered, 19 per cent reduced their hours and about one in eight (12 per cent) resigned. Most respondents (60 per cent) said their workplace offered no menopause support.

Dr Newson said: “For far too long menopausal women have been faced with an impossible choice: struggle on with often debilitating symptoms or leave behind careers they have worked so hard for. On average, the age of the menopause in the UK is 51, at precisely the point where many women are at the peak of their careers with an abundance of skills and experience to offer.”