The recent pronounced increase in public discussion of the menopause has been a welcome shift. Like miscarriage and birth injuries, this aspect of women’s life experience – and healthcare – has often been shrouded in embarrassment. In the UK, a “menopause revolution” led by the Labour MP Carolyn Harris succeeded in getting the cost of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) reduced to less than £20 a year. Between 2021 and 2023 the proportion of UK women aged 45 to 64 prescribed HRT rose from 11% to about 15%.
This is widely viewed as a corrective after many years during which it was underprescribed due to exaggerated fears about side-effects, including an increased risk of some cancers. Women with debilitating symptoms such as broken sleep and low mood too often went without any treatment at all. Last month the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued new guidance asserting that if symptoms are serious and long-lasting, they can be regarded as a disability – meaning employers must make reasonable adjustments. Meanwhile, a new series of papers in the Lancet has called for more support for the one in 10 women who experience early menopause, before they are 40.
