How do we change the narrative around menopause in the workplace?

Professor Rebecca Mitchell, of Macquarie Business School, is leading a study that draws together Macquarie Business School’s Health & Wellbeing Research Unit and Psychological Sciences researchers of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, to answer that question.

The project explores the intersection of menopause and women’s careers through a positive psychology lens.

Professor Mitchell says... "women are to some extent on their own when it comes to managing menopause. There are big gaps in the research around how women, as leaders, progress through this period."

“There's nothing [in the literature] about how women can become more effective, more productive, how they can change careers, be adaptable, transition into new ways of working; there's nothing about that at all."

“Nobody wants to talk about it. And that's amplified by the fact that people don't know what to say, because there's this dearth of research to guide them. There's a skerrick of research that looks at what can be done, but a lot of the solutions are generic: time off, education and training, and so on.”

Expect to learn a lot in this episode with Rebecca about exactly what it takes to introduce policy change into workplaces. It's a lot more complicated than I initially realised.

Topics we discuss:

• The questions workplaces and leaders should be asking, but aren't
• Why announcements around additional sick leave are tokenist, only providing a stop-gap solution
• Why many women give up on their leadership and career progression goals as a result of menopause
• What research is being done, how and how long it will take
• How you can be involved in the research

LINKS
Email: rebecca.mitchell@mq.edu.au
About Rebecca

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