Menopause and the workplace: new directions in HRM research and HR practice

Carol Atkinson, Vanessa A Beck, Jo Brewis*, Andrea Davies, Jo Duberley

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

40 Citations (Scopus)
383 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper offers two key arguments. The first is that HRM scholars and HR practitioners need to pay a good deal more attention to the bi-directional relationship between menopause and the workplace – how menopausal symptoms can affect women’s experience of work and how work can exacerbate a woman’s symptoms. We outline the social responsibility, demographic, legal and business cases which explain the urgency of more research and more concerted practice in this area. Our second argument concerns the importance of future research and practice adopting an intersectional political economy approach, in order to better understand the considerable differences between how women going through menopause transition experience work. Here we offer arguments ranging from the macro through the meso down to the micro level of these differences, in so doing setting an agenda for the work to come on this very significant issue.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)49-64
Number of pages16
JournalHuman Resource Management Journal
Volume31
Issue number1
Early online date29 Apr 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 May 2020

Keywords

  • menopause
  • bio-medical approach
  • bio-psycho-cultural approach
  • intersectional political economy
  • work

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