Why menopause renders women invisible. By 2025 there will be over 1 billion women experiencing menopause in the world – this is 12% of the entire population in the world of 8 billion humans (source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2019.) But, the majority of women going through menopause, feel overlooked, ignored, and rendered invisible to major brands and retailers, as well as some in the medical profession, when looking for support and information on menopause. This is common to most societies around the world.

GenM, a UK-based menopause consultancy which partners with brands and organisations to help women in menopause, conducted a study to find out how to improve the menopause experience for women, called The Invisibility Report. It found that many women struggle unnecessarily in what should be a natural transition in life to the freedom of childbirth and pregnancy,. It believes that ‘Generation Menopause’ deserves better.

“While the natural transition of the menopause is a fact of life for almost all women, what’s deeply troubling is the air of mystery that continues to cloak the subject, and the perpetuating relationship this taboo has with the lack of resource for those experiencing menopause, from brands, organisations, retailers, employers and wider society. The research conducted in this study has found that overwhelmingly, women in their mid-life feel overlooked by society and unable to find the support they need whilst struggling with physical, emotional, and mental symptoms – from anxiety and panic attacks to insomnia and depression,” reports GenM.

Why menopause renders women invisible. The brand consultancy says there is an irrefutable need for brands, organisations, and retailers to better cater for their menopausal consumer and support them with solutions, quality of life products and be part of sustained change in this category. “By raising awareness and better serving the 48 symptoms of the menopause through effective products and signposting, services, and workplace policies; those in menopause, along with their loved ones, work colleagues, friends and employers, can enter this pivotal time in their lives feeling supported, educated and without fear.”

Break the taboo

This kind of movement to break the taboo in society of even talking about menopause, requires positive action to destigmatise the subject and normalise the conversation between women, their employers, and in the health and wellness category. Women make up half the world’s population and they will all experience menopause at some point in their lives, so positive action is needed to prepare women for this life stage, as GenM suggests.

“It indicates that women are currently surviving menopause with a mixture of grit and determination, rather than being prepared for and supported to navigate its impact. It points to the responsibility of workplaces and employers to better support menopausal women in work – the fastest growing demographic in the workforce today. And it puts the spotlight on the role of brands and retailers which have marginalised mid-life women, made them feel no longer relevant through uninspiring and unrelatable marketing and advertising and overpriced products, that lack clear signposting.”

GenM describes menopause as a modern-day taboo which needs to be broken down: “The results emerging from this research provide a clear indication that the menopause is a subject which many women feel uncomfortable or unnatural to talk about with others. Furthermore, this is not a new phenomenon – by definition, a taboo is something which has never been opened up to wider scrutiny or debate. As the numbers of women entering the menopause continue to grow, the sheer volume of people affected multiplies as the impact of these life-changing symptoms begins to impact relationships with partners, families and work colleagues.

Why menopause renders women invisible, some of the key takeouts from the GenM UK report, included:

• Half of the women can’t name any of the stages of menopause.
• Two in three women were blindsided by menopause.
• Only about half could name three of the approximately 48 symptoms associated with menopause.
• Almost half of women going through menopause revealed feeling “lonely, invisible, irrelevant or dispensable’.
• Two-thirds of women experiencing menopause said they had to find out about it on their own.
• In the UK, a massive 87% of women thought that women experiencing menopause were overlooked by society and brands.
• The number who said they had never seen any specific advertising or marketing for menopausal products, was even higher: 91%.