Menopause recommendations


Recommendations by the cross-party Women and Equalities Committee of MPs to keep women with menopausal symptoms in the workplace have been welcomed by unions. 


The committee’s new report, Menopause and the workplace, calls on the government to amend the Equality Act to introduce menopause as a protected characteristic and to include a duty for employers to provide reasonable adjustments for menopausal employees. 


It also calls for the appointment of a “menopause ambassador” to work with unions, employers, and other stakeholders to produce model policies and disseminate good practice. 


The government should also pilot a menopause leave policy within a public sector employer, it adds. 


The Community union commented: “To make workplaces truly inclusive places for people going through the menopause, people do not need to wait for the government to appoint a Menopause Ambassador — they can join a union that is fighting for the rights of menopausal women.”