As more women are remaining in the workforce well into their fifties, a cottage industry of startups has cropped up to help support them through the experience of menopause.
There are products that claim to address symptoms like hot flashes and hair loss, while others have the more ambitious goal of staving off menopause or mitigating its effect on fertility. Some companies are focused on providing medical care to those facing menopause, who they believe are underserved by traditional healthcare.
The proliferation of these companies has also raised awareness about how menopause can impact working individuals, in particular—and workers themselves have started asking for menopause-related benefits.
Lack of Benefits
Even so, the majority of workplaces have been slow to embrace the issue: The latest edition of an annual survey by the menopause care startup Bonafide finds that most workers still lack any kind of accommodations as they approach (and experience) menopause. The survey polled over 2,000 perimenopausal and menopausal women, 76% of whom said their workplace has no accommodations for issues related to menopause.
