, 300,000 in the U.K. have left jobs in the past five years because of their menopause symptoms. The U.K. awareness effort led to dozens of British companies, including big-name brands like HSBC UK, being certified as menopause-friendly by Henpicked, a third-party group; now, one in four British businesses have a menopause policy,The menopause push in the U.K.
Another reason companies are taking menopause seriously these days is that doing so can help their bottom line. Menopause costs an estimated $1.8 billion in lost work time a year and $26.6 billion in medical expenses,Faubion and her colleagues at the Mayo Clinic published in April.
Lankester likes to use the example of whales, who go through menopause and then become the leaders of their pods to show why talking about menopause can help combat ageism. “The end of my fertility became the most fertile time of my life—I was clear and focused,” says Lankester, who went through menopause at 41. “If we can get some of those things across as part of this awareness raising, I think we’ll be doing women a good service.