Key Points
- Many women are retiring years before they had planned due to perimenopause and menopause.
- Taking time out of the workforce has a mammoth impact on women's financial stability in later life.
- Australian unions have been campaigning for 10 days of paid reproductive leave to be included in the National Employment Standards.
When in her late 40s, Sue Hansen was loving her career as a massage therapist until suddenly, she "didn't feel right in her skin".
"I remember feeling as though there were ants crawling along it. At the time I didn't know it was hormones, I just felt there was something going on," she told SBS News.
Perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms can include hot flushes, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction known as 'brain fog', anxiety and joint pain among varous others — and Sue, now 63, suffered most of them.
"The anxiety was a big thing, and I felt I couldn't hold it together," she said.
In the end, she decided to cut back her hours before giving up her career altogether, a decision that was anything but easy.
"I had a mortgage and bills but I thought, what else can I do?"
She knows many women of her age who had similar experiences.
"If they could afford to leave their work, they just backed off to get away from everything."
Sue Hansen says she knew many women who felt too unwell to work full time when they went through perimenopause and menopause. Source: Supplied
Women retiring before they're ready
Sue is not alone. According to the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), many Australian women are retiring years before they'd planned and taking a serious hit to their retirement savings due to the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause.
A quarter of Australian working women retire before the age of 55, despite women in the 45-54 age group typically reporting they wanted to retire at 64, it adds.
Meanwhile, Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals women retire seven years before men on average, and 12 years before their desired age of retirement.
Australians can claim the Age Pension at 65, or at 67 if they were born after 1957.
Ahead of the Senate inquiry on Tuesday into the Issues related to menopause and perimenopause, Australian unions have been campaigning for 10 days of paid reproductive leave to be included in the National Employment Standards, enabling workers — both male and female — to take time off to manage reproductive health issues.
These issues include menstruation, pregnancy, contraception, miscarriage, perimenopause, menopause, chronic conditions such as poly-cystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis, hormone therapy and fertility issues, as well as vasectomy, hysterectomy and terminations, and breast and prostate cancer screenings.
Source: SBS News
The Queensland Government has recently introduced 10 days paid reproductive leave.
The federal Opposition is against the ACTU's push for the leave to be brought in across the country, suggesting it will make employers reluctant to hire women.
But ACTU president Michele O’Neil says workplace rights for women — from equal pay to paid parental leave — actually improves women’s workforce participation.
“These rights have made it easier for women to balance work and care and to fully and fairly participate in the workforce. That’s exactly what paid reproductive leave would do.”
Speaking outside, Greens senator Larissa Waters said the myriad mental and physical symptoms of menopause were "really debilitating for women in the workplace".
"Some women have no problems at all ... but others are finding that they've got a really disabling experience of perimenopause and menopause and that's affecting their ability to continue at work or to continue at the level that they've been at, or to continue at the hours that they've been at."
The economic penalties of menopause
Taking time out of the workforce has a mammoth impact on women's financial stability in later life.
"We're see already women retiring with less superannuation than men, and we're seeing women retiring earlier, and we're now learning that perhaps perimenopause and menopause has a lot to do with that. So long story short, we really need workplace policies that can help support women, if they wish to to remain in the workforce, to continue to flourish in their careers," Waters said.
Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) found that as a direct result of menopause, around 20,000 Australian women will at some point switch from full-time to part-time work, around 10,000 will leave the workforce and return later, and around 4,000 women will retire prematurely because of severe menopause symptoms.
ASFA found that a 51-year-old woman on the average wage who shifts from full-time to part-time work (three days per week) over four years will be $25,000 worse off at retirement, while a woman forced to retire around five years prematurely could lose an estimated $60,000 in retirement savings.
Women's health leave 'a good news story for everyone'
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is one organisation that has tried to address the problem.
In 2023, it introduced Women’s+ Health leave, which provides women (and those with female reproductive organs who don't identify as women) five days of paid leave for reasons such as menstruation, fertility care, endometriosis and menopause.
Belinda Rooff, Head of People Operations at AFCA, said the organisation, whose workforce is 57 per cent female, wanted to provide leave that was genuinely useful.
"We wanted to help people who are pregnant, who were freezing their eggs, those who are trying to get pregnant and then on the other side, people who are having menstrual life changes who need to either attend doctor's appointments or they just feel too sick to attend work," she told SBS News.
Australian unions are pushing for women — and men — to be able to take reproductive health leave. Credit: Moodboard
"They may have been embarrassed in the past to say to their leader, 'I need to take leave for this reason'. Whereas now, we don't actually ask employees to say why they need it.
"Even for employees who don't have any issues themselves, just to know an organisation supports people like that, it's definitely a good news story for everyone."
Rooff said AFCA would consider extending its Women's+ Health leave if there was a need.
'Education is key'
Dr Lina Safro, a GP specialising in women's health who sits on the Board of the Australasian Menopause Society, agrees workplaces need to better support women.
"Any workplace that has policies in place that enable women to have a flexible arrangement, I think would be a good thing," she told SBS News.
"Education is key and the ability for women to communicate at work about those things without being stigmatised is fundamental."
The ability for women to communicate at work about those things without being stigmatised is fundamental.Dr Lina Safro
Sue says time and support to find the right care may have enabled her to stay in her career for longer.
"At that time many women need time off to go seek help, because it does take time to find the right doctor.
"I really loved my job and I thought I had a lot longer in it.
"Staying at work would have given me peace of mind."
