Business Chief ME+AFRICA January 2024 | Page 60

Millions of women leave successful careers each year due to symptoms of the menopause – a loss that companies in the Middle East cannot afford to ignore
PEOPLE & PLANET

BREAKING THE

MENOPAUSE

WORKPLACE TABOO

Millions of women leave successful careers each year due to symptoms of the menopause – a loss that companies in the Middle East cannot afford to ignore
WRITTEN BY : KATE BIRCH

Workplace taboos are regularly being broken , from expressing emotions to addressing mental health , yet one remains firmly entrenched in corporate culture — the menopause .

With menopausal women being the fastestgrowing workforce demographic , it ’ s high time organisations addressed the US $ 150 billion a year economic elephant in the room .
That is the estimated cost of lost productivity due to menopause globally , and while that figure may help to grab shareholder attention , the sad reality is that millions of women leave successful careers every year because they cannot manage symptoms of the menopause , or feel unsupported and misunderstood .
60 January 2024