Lien Potgieter, Medihelp Medical Scheme

Migraines, heart palpitations, chronic exhaustion, lethargy, physical weakness, poor focus, brain fog, depression, anxiety, disturbed sleep and hot flushes. This laundry list of symptoms isn’t the flu. It’s not a one- or twoweek malady that some Med-Lemon will fix. It’s a natural phase of life for more than half of South Africa’s population and the implications of its impact on female employee performance and wellbeing remain grossly underserved. The menopause, or “the change”, is the other C word and, unlike cancer, it’s a biological inevitability for every woman. There’s no dodging it, no taking a pill to prevent it and yet there is very little support for women going through it.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), headquartered in the UK, 73% of women surveyed experience symptoms as they go through menopause, with 67% listing mood changes, anxiety, depression, memory loss, panic attacks and poor concentration as daily challenges that affect them negatively at work. Only 24% of those surveyed work for a company that has a menopause policy or menopause support in place, only 25% of companies offer women the ability to control the temperature in their workplace, and a mere 26% offer flexible working as a way of managing these symptoms.