The Zimbabwean economy has been losing millions every year due to the failure to address the challenges faced by women during menopause. For too long, deeply embedded cultural taboos and attitudes have prevented almost any kind of conversation about menopause and how it affects women in the workplace.
The associated stigma has deterred investment in solutions and innovations that would eliminate or mitigate the economic and social cost of failing to address the consequences of menopause. Please join me in examining how we can eliminate the cost and unlock the returns on investment by solving this multi-million-dollar problem and unlocking the multi-million-dollar opportunity.
Most organisations reserve an important place for gender balance in their diversity, equity and inclusion strategies as it is now widely understood to be good for business. Often, the focus is on improving the representation of women in leadership. There is very little attention given to menopause and its impact on women’s well-being at work. In a labour market and a world that is crying out for more female leadership, this is something we cannot afford to let happen anymore.
Menopause is a hormonal process that usually has three phases. It occurs when a woman has not menstruated for 12 consecutive months. The transition period leading up to that point is called peri-menopause and can last several years and symptoms associated with menopause can also occur during that time. Symptoms may continue after the year without periods, too, in the stage called post-menopause. The average age for women to reach menopause is between 45-55 years, but at least 1% of women reach menopause before age 40.
Postmenopausal women are the fastest growing group of the working population. A study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) published in 2020, reflects this trend in most developing countries. The major reason is that the female participation rate is basically increasing and in Zimbabwe, it was 60.39 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators.
Currently, about 53% of the Zimbabwean population is female and the moment when the first symptoms of menopause appear (attention problems, discomfort, work stoppages and so on) often coincides with the time women are in the prime of their careers as the average age for the menopausal transition is between ages 45 and 55 but peri-menopause symptoms, which can be equally debilitating, start years earlier, between 35-45. Although most Zimbabwean employers have not given much attention to this topic it is important to shed some light on how employers can address this topic in their organisation.
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The economic cost of menopause
According to the ZimStat 2023 second quarter quarterly labour force survey report, approximately half a million of the entire Zimbabwean workforce, the 35-55 years age group, is in peri-menopause or menopause.
While varying from person to person, menopausal symptoms are urogenital (incontinence, vaginal pain), psychological (depression, anxiety), and physical (hot flashes, sleep problems, joint and muscle discomfort). Any of these can affect a woman's productivity at work and her life outside the workplace.
Existing information about menopause is designed to address circumstances of women in high income countries and does not address the needs of those living in low income countries like Zimbabwe. Be that as it may, whether in low income or high income, the true economic cost is much larger than meets the eye because it includes costs associated with reduced hours of work, loss of employment, early retirement or change of jobs. By any measure, the failure to address menopause openly and in a comprehensive manner has a negative effect on our economy.
The social cost of menopause
In addition to the economic toll of menopause, there is at least an equally substantial social cost. Women who leave the workforce due to inability to work during menopause may experience financial insecurity later in life, affecting their ability to care for and support themselves and their families.
At a time when experience and tacit knowledge is valued, we cannot afford to lose some of our most productive workers. Additionally, menopause affects women when they are often at the height of their earning power and career development. This is also the time of life when women take on or are in contention for important leadership roles.
The effect of menopause on working women makes it a potentially unrecognised reason for the leaky leadership pipeline and the paucity of women in senior leadership positions.
According to a Techzim article by Tinashe Nyahasha, dated 8 June, 2018, out of the 403 directors who sat on the boards of Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed companies back then, only 72 of them were women. There is not much information about the percentage of women CEO leadership positions in Zimbabwe, but, according to NewsDay, 26 August, 2024, Zimbabwean women participation in leadership and politics remains low at 35% in Parliament, 16% local government and 11.5% in Cabinet.
The number of leadership roles filled by women still lags far behind those held by men and no research has attempted to determine whether there is a correlation between menopause and the dearth of women in leadership positions. However, simply connecting the dots supports the supposition that the effects of menopause are likely reducing the talent pool of accomplished women and resulting in slow incremental progress in gender equality in senior corporate positions.
Menopause remains unaddressed
Why have we failed to do something about it? Generally, women's health has been historically neglected because female physiology is much more complicated than male’s and has long been overlooked in biomedical research and clinical studies.
Worldwide, women and underrepresented groups were not required to be included in clinical trials until 1993. When it comes to menopause, society, including the workplace, still treats the subject as taboo, reflecting the bias against addressing women's health while engaging in a much more open conversation around men's health.
As a result, public discourse regarding the personal and societal consequences of menopause is stifled and due to constraints imposed by marketing platforms and media, information regarding the availability of menopause products and therapies is not as widely disseminated as it could be. There is a clear disconnect when it came to how HR departments and employees perceive their companies' attitude towards menopause.
What it will take to eliminate the cost and fulfill the potential:
Government action
Systematic change could be made through legislation. Legislation that will allow medical aid to include menopause therapies including hormone replacement and another that requires additional research by the Ministry of Health into menopause related treatments. Concerted lobbying efforts are needed for this to become a reality.
Change in the workplace
The private sector can take the lead in addressing menopause issues by creating a menopause-friendly culture in the workplace in order to attract and retain experienced women, which includes access to certified menopause specialists and coverage for treatments that may not be included in health insurance plans. Companies can also offer manager training to increase awareness of menopause and coaching to facilitate more open discussion. They can also establish employee networks or peer support groups for menopausal women.
Investment in menopause therapies
The private sector can also invest in innovations that are addressing menopause and its symptoms.
There is little data regarding the total market value of menopause market in Zimbabwe, which among other things includes therapeutic solutions to lengthen ovarian health, hormone replacement therapies, medical devices, clinical care and consumer products. But by any estimate, it is huge. Whatever the estimate is, there is an untapped evergreen market opportunity in menopause that can't be overlooked.
Where does this leave us?
The stigma surrounding this natural, biological stage of a woman's life has impeded change in the workplace and investment by the government and the private sector, resulting in a huge economic and social cost and an unrealised opportunity to tap into the returns offered by a large and constantly regenerating market for solutions.
It will require progress on all fronts to eliminate the million-dollar cost to the economy and unlock the million-dollar market opportunity. And it will require collective action to do so.
- Mpakula is a menopause coach. These weekly New Horizon articles, published in the Zimbabwe Independent, are coordinated by Lovemore Kadenge, an independent consultant, managing consultant of Zawale Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, past president of the Zimbabwe Economics Society and past president of the Chartered Governance & Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe (CGI Zimbabwe). — kadenge.zes@gmail.com or mobile: +263 772 382 852.