The UK government recently decided against providing special protection for menopausal employees under the Equality Act (2010), rejecting recommendations from the UK parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee.
Nine characteristics are already protected from discrimination by UK law: sex, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, and sexual orientation.
It has already been proven in five successful employment tribunals that employers can and do discriminate against cis women because of their menopausal status. And, unlike pregnancy and maternity, menopause is something that practically everyone with ovaries experiences. But the government has refused to consider protecting it in the same way.
