I’m out here doing my best to make Old Broads Sexy Again and the medical community is really yucking my yum. While many of us are trying to make menopause an approachable subject, one that can be discussed without hushed tones or shame, the Mayo Clinic is putting out studies like this. They found that working women in the US between the ages of 45-60 may lose up to $1.8 billion due to menopause. Yes, billion, with a B. The loss is from symptoms being so unmanageable, that women in that age group are either being laid off or quitting. And some say that number is conservative, because this study factored in women who had access to company healthcare and there are plenty of women who don’t.

Working women in the United States may lose up to $1.8 billion each year due to menopause, according to a new study.

Menopause is the time that marks the end of a woman’s reproductive years, or twelve months without a menstrual period. It usually occurs when women are in their 40s and 50s, but the average age is 51 in the U.S. Symptoms include irregular periods, hot flashes, mood swings, sleep problems, vaginal and bladder problems, loss of bone density and higher cholesterol levels — some of which come on gradually.

The study, published this week by the Mayo Clinic, surveyed more than 4,000 women aged 45-60 and found that 15% had either missed work or cut back on work hours because of their menopause symptoms. The study notes that more than 15 million women in the workplace ages 45 to 60.

Researchers also found that over 1% of participants reported that their symptoms were so debilitating that they were either laid off or quit their jobs in the preceding six months.

Dr. Juliana Kling — study author and chair of the Women’s Health Internal Medicine division at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona — said that based on collected data, there’s an estimated annual loss of $1.8 billion in working time.

Kapoor added that the recorded $1.8 billion annual loss is likely an underestimate because the women surveyed had access to health insurance and possible treatments for menopause symptoms, which is not the case for all women in the U.S.

[From People]

I’m being flippant but I am genuinely distressed about this. We’ve discussed the symptoms before. Many of them would affect job performance. Brain fog is a particular challenge. What I’m having trouble with is that menopause is finite. Laying someone off or quitting for something that will end is scary. I know peri can last up to four years, but there has to be a way to manage being a woman in the workplace, this can’t be the answer. The article noted that the study found women also felt they couldn’t talk about menopause in the workplace and that’s probably why they aren’t getting help. Smart companies should give every 45 year old woman in their employ a personal fan with their company logo on it and soak up the free advertising every time that woman has to bring it out to deal with a hot flash.

Obviously, the biggest concern is women losing money due to a milestone they will all pass through if they’re lucky enough to live that long. Granted, not all will suffer debilitating symptoms, but clearly enough to lose a collective $1.8 billion. What I’m focusing on is the women being removed from the workplace. I worry that employers will use information like this to weed out women of a certain age as job candidates. Professional resume builders already tell women to hack their work experience so HR can’t guess their age prior to the interview. So newlyweds are filtered because of their potential for pregnancy and choosing to stay home after maternity and now capable middle aged women will get filtered because a study suggests they’ll vacate or be forced out of that position after the company has paid to train them. I just wish they’d stop finding new ways to stack the odds against us.

Add this to the University of Birmingham announcing that there’s a rise in throat cancer because of oral sex and it’s like the medical community is out for us.

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