A reported one in ten women has left her job due to the menopause – the scale is something that has proven both alarming and eye-opening for many.

What surprised me, however, is that this figure was not higher. Much higher. If you consider the fact that there are an estimated 13 million menopausal women in the United Kingdom, the numbers involved – even at 10 per cent – are substantial.

Thankfully the dial is turning on how society treats the so-called “change”. High-profile advocacy, including that from celebrities such as Davina McCall, Penny Lancaster and Lisa Snowdon, has made this a more mainstream issue. Awareness and empathy has probably never been higher than it has become in the last 18 months.

The recent unveiling of the Menopause Mandate at Westminster was another welcome step in continuing to break taboos and encourage discussion as those personalities push for political action.

Thanks to this, many women – perhaps most notably younger ones – are realising that issues they face are, in fact, menopausal or peri-menopausal. It’s a realisation that’s allowing them to access sometimes transformational treatment.

But this is just the beginning. Much is still to be done on recognising the effects of the menopause, especially at work, and that all employers have a critical role to play.

That at least one in ten women have left their job due to the menopause was one of the headline-grabbing findings from Davina McCall’s Channel 4 documentary, Sex, Myths and the...

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