Medical professionals should be better educated about menopause during their degrees and women experiencing menopause need more flexibility in the workplace. Senate investigation found
Greens’ senator and spokeswoman for women, Larissa Waters, has the bipartisan consensus report of the investigation Wednesday night. It was launched by the party almost a year ago to examine the health and economic impact of menopause and perimenopause on Australian women.
Over several months, the committee heard women were dismissed or offered ineffective treatments by health professionals when they sought menopause care, including one who was told by her family doctor that all he had learned in medical school was that menopausal women were either “crazy or sad” is.
The report said there is a need for more undergraduate and postgraduate medical training on perimenopause and menopause and more research on its economic impact on women.
Waters said that the investigation made it clear that menopause was not well understood – by the community, in the workplace and by some doctors.
“Women shared that they were disbelieved, misdiagnosed or dismissed when they sought treatment – many felt alienated,” she said.
“The committee heard that some medical degrees only have one hour of training on menopause, so I am pleased to see a recommendation for more undergraduate and postgraduate medical training.”
The report recommended that the federal government encourage the Australian Medical Council to explicitly consider including menopause and perimenopause in its medical programs, and that the Australian Medical Council should work with Medical Deans Australia to ensure that modules at all medical university curricula are included.
The director of Monash University’s Women’s Health Research Programme, Prof Sue Davis, said although her institution had a compulsory unit on midlife women, including menopause training for GPs, this was not the norm.
“That’s 50% of the population, they’ll all go through it,” she said. “Just like we train people in gynecology, we need to train people in menopause—no question.”
Davis said practitioners “thirst for knowledge” on the topic, but there has been a historical lack of research in the area.
“In our last big study of 2,000 women in 2014, we were looking for funding and it was just desperation,” she said. “We couldn’t get money because nobody was interested.
“There’s a rigid view that nobody really has that much of a problem…so why research in this space. What’s not so recognized is that this is a major life event – 80% of women will be the workforce when they go through it.
“Even without severe symptoms, we need to understand that.”
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Waters said the most encouraging part of the report is its first recommendation, that the department of Health and Aged Care Commission research to establish a comprehensive evidence base on the influences of menopause and perimenopause, including its differentiation from midlife stressors and impact on mental health.
“It recognizes the fact that we don’t have enough data, that we are walking blind,” she said. “Information is knowledge and knowledge is what we need to make health better.”
The report also called for more workplace flexibility, consideration of gender-inclusive reproductive leave and the development of a national awareness campaign.
Waters said that while more than half of the population has experienced menopause and perimenopause, there has been “little federal policy to address its impact”.
“It sends a powerful message that all the political parties involved in the inquiry have agreed on the recommendations after a year-long investigation,” she said.
“While some women experience this natural phase of life with little to no symptoms, others experience debilitating symptoms, and we need policies that work for all women and people experiencing menopause.
“I am pleased the committee has recommended a right to request flexibility, develop workplace policy and explore reproductive health leave so that women can be better supported at work.”
The federal government has three months to respond to the recommendations.
