Channel 4 menopause policy

I am sorry to hear that, oldgimmer1; but I don't agree that that should be the baseline for women's employment.

I do live in the real world. If I knew of another, I would emigrate.

FWIW, my career was also in education, and I did 'put up and shut up', as I said above. I don't see that as good reason for the next generation to do the same, though, which is where I think our points of view differ.

doodle I made that choice because I had to. Not making the choice could well have meant a dead child. As it was, DD was born very prematurely at 29 weeks and I was glad I made the decision. No job is worth losing your only chance at motherhood for.

My employer was a well-established educational provider with funding cut to the bone, with trade union recognition and all the (supposed) trimmings.

I'm wondering whether some of you live in the real world.

But they will if they have to. At one time, paid holiday was a luxury, sick pay was a pipe dream, and children went down mines and up chimneys.

Pressure from reformers, Trade Unions and political will has changed all that. The same can, and should IMO, be true of reasonable adjustments for menopausal women.

Doodledog, I know all about the pressures. I am the main breadwinner in my family. I have to leave my child so that I can earn the money to keep us. I am also menopausal and I suffer considerably with multiple issues, so I know those problems too. But I also know in the big wide real world of work employers do not and will not make such allowances. You take a job, you do it. It is about equality, not about fairness.

Menopause is not an illness any more than pregnancy or a disability is. It's a temporary condition, which can be worked round by intelligent people

Temporary? In some cases I have heard of the menopause lasting seven years or more. In other cases more than fifteen years. Thats hardly temporary. Hardly easy to be worked around. My boss once got a strop on when I was put off sick for six weeks with pneumonia ( as a complication of influenza). Two of those weeks were Christmas to boot and I had booked in as holiday for that time.

I went back to work without a clear X ray as was supposed to be the case , in order to keep my job and because my colleagues couldn't keep up with the additional workload on them as a result of me being unwell. Now that was temporary.

Seven years or more is rather a long term thing .

oldgimmer1
You made a choice, that is your right. A choice, by definition, is something that can also be decided against. What you did was right for you, so it's lucky that you were in a position to make it.

As I am sure you know, however, not everyone is so fortunate, which is why using one's own experience as a yardstick is seldom very helpful in a discussion such as this.

Aprilrose your use of 'female' as a noun says a lot about your attitude to other women.

The workplace has generally been designed around a society where men are breadwinners and women are dependent on them and stay at home with the children.

Is this the way you think it should stay, or do you think that women should be 'allowed' in? As for your statement about your employer 'treating men and women equally', if you are working in a position of authority, surely you know the difference between 'equally' and 'fairly'?

I gave up my career as a Lecturer when I was expecting DD. It was, quite simply, beyond me. I did not expect my employer to "work around me" as I was employed to do a job, I was paid to do a job, and I simply could not anymore.

I suppose I could have gone on the sick until mat leave, but I did not want to do that as it would place my colleagues under strain and it would be difficult organisationally.

I made a choice. Equally, I made a choice not to work when I was going through the meno as I knew I would find things difficult. Also, I did not want to take my issues to work as I didn't see why my issues should be my employer's problem.

People have choices. Sometimes they're not easy to make but there you go.

Let's hear it for Chanel 4 championing the women ( sarcastic emoji)
They plan to equal out their 28.6% pay gap by 2023
Whoopee doo for them.

There is a valid reason for this ( more sarcasm ?) 2/3 of the top jobs are taken for men ?

Good grief! You really have had contact with some ghastly human beings!

Menopause is not an illness any more than pregnancy or a disability is. It's a temporary condition, which can be worked round by intelligent people.

oldgimmer

Do you mean a capability issue?

What exactly do you expect a woman to do? What about a woman who is the sole breadwinner? Is she supposed to give up a whole career?

Menopause doesn't last forever and women would be perfectly capable of returning to their previous responsibility, if it weren't for the blot on their CV caused by menopausal symptoms.

It might not be possible to make reasonable adjustments for a teacher or lecturer, but a reasonable employer might consider a change of role to one where occasional breaks might be possible. Unfortunately, some narrow minded employers do consider it a capability issue.

Maybe one of the reasons women "of a certain age" are seen as not performing well is because they're trying to cover up the fact that they're really not feeling well

If you are ill you should not be working. If its natural causes, then maybe that would be a good reason to be retired? Shape up or ship out as my employer would say.

@growstuff no-one is employed for life.

Many are lucky to land zero-hour jobs with no security, no protection and no prospects.

Employers will do what they can get away with. They'll pay as little as they can, knowing that the taxpayer will pick up the slack via tax credits.

As for smaller employers: it's often difficult enough for them to keep going at all, never mind reasonable adjustments for menopausal workers.

And, I'm sorry, but some of the issues that have been mentioned sound more like capacity issues to me.

For example, how do you make reasonable adjustments for a menopausal, flooding, sweaty lecturer? That's what lecturing is about -standing in front of a class, thinking on your feet. It's hard. If you're not up to it, don't do it!

Hello Jacqueq
Sorry you're having such a bad time.

If you click on the 'forums' heading, you can find the one for health (or just chat would be fine)
Click on 'add discussion' and make a new thread.

Hope that helps. I'm not very good at explaining.

Hi I'm new on here. Can anyone point me in the right direction for post hysterectomy hrt issues please, was on estrogen only but been introduced to combination pill even though I have no ovaries or uterus ( I do have small piece of cervix left behind). I have been told new regulations do can't take one without the other Feeling distraught with the experience. This is my third lot of get and feel like a wired zombie. Thanks in advance.

MissAdventure I know and it's not that difficult to see how that happens when reading some of the posts on here.

What a company has to be seen to do, and what they actually do are often poles apart, I've found.
As long as the paperwork is in order and all looks well, bullying, inequality etc still go on as much as they ever did.

Not only do I not want to live in the same place as you, but I sincerely hope that nobody I know has the misfortune to land a job in your company.

From your posts

Yes, I didn’t think it would be a nice job for your posts.

Fortunately so many employers take a more progressive, supportive approach to developing staff policies as it’s well known that happy staff are more productive.

Confrontation is what my job very often requires me to do. That is what I am paid for. Its not an easy job by any means. Its not one without responsibility either.

I see a lot of people trying to blag, or lie or pull the wool over my eyes ( no I do not work in insurance by the way) and I have to make sure such people understand that I am not taken in and will not be played for a fool.

Its not a nice job. It makes me a rather hard person I suppose. I have to learn to be that. But it does mean I often understand how other hard headed people may think , especially employers.

Maybe one of the reasons women "of a certain age" are seen as not performing well is because they're trying to cover up the fact that they're really not feeling well. I tried very hard to cope when I was feeling like shit, but I knew very well that I wasn't doing my job as well as I could have done. It would have been better for all concerned if I could have been honest and cut a little slack, when needed. Women aren't just employed for the few years they go through the menopause, but for life. If they are good, there should be a way of retaining them.

I'm guessing aprilrose doesn't actually have the kind of job which requires responsible decisions. She certainly doesn't appear to know anything about good employment practice, especially as her posts would suggest she is rather confrontational.

You know these policies are not legal frameworks and are there in case women want them, just as with other organisational policies? If a woman of ‘a certain age’ doesn’t want to use it she doesn’t have to.

Quite, @aprilrose.

I think people underestimate how much casual ageism is out there. It's hard enough being a woman of a certain age without attracting even more attention to it. You're already seen as over the hill/unable to learn new stuff/ stuck in the past etc.