"Some 10% of women leave their jobs due to menopause symptoms"

Clara Selva Olid has a PhD in Psychology, and is a member of the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and the Behavioural Design Lab (BDLab) research group. A specialist in gender, health, careers and organizations, she has led pioneering studies on the impact of the menopause in the workplace and on women's well-being. Together with Rocío Pina, she recently published the book La ética en la práctica psicológica. Dilemas y retos (Ethics in psychological practice. Dilemmas and challenges, UOC, 2023), addressing the contemporary ethical challenges facing psychologists.

In this interview, Selva talked about her current research in the fields of gender, health and organizations, focusing particularly on her research on menopause. She also reflected on ethics in psychological practice, the central theme of her latest work, though these thoughts did not focus exclusively on the content of the book.

What are you currently working on?

My primary research examines how the female life cycle, from the reproductive to the non-reproductive stage, influences physical and psychological well-being, impacting the personal, social and professional spheres. I'm also studying health and gender in organizational settings and how university students engage with the labour market, with a focus on psychological ethics.

These lines of research are directly linked to my teaching in research training, practicums and the critical analysis of professional fields. My aim is to ensure that the knowledge generated benefits society and impacts the training of future psychologists.

What key findings did your study reveal about menopause and what aspects are still not being brought to the fore?

My study El tabú de la menopausa: una discriminació invisibilitzada (The taboo of menopause: an invisible discrimination) shows that, due to patriarchal narratives, menopause remains a silenced and stigmatized experience, associated in Western cultures with loss of youth, fertility, etc. I found workplaces to be exclusionary, with no protocols or adaptations, while the medicalized approach to menopause ignores the emotional and social aspects. As a result, 80% of women suffer from symptoms in silence, affecting their mental health and job security.

There are still serious gaps, such as gender-sensitive healthcare training, specific public policies, awareness-raising in education and the media, and appropriate organizational measures. The study proposes a comprehensive approach (social, health, political and labour) with specific measures such as workplace flexibility, awareness-raising in companies and including the subject in educational curricula, stressing the menopause as an issue of social justice.

How does the taboo on menopause impact women's health and well-being?

The social silence surrounding menopause has serious consequences: misinformation, shame and isolation, leading many women to feel isolated and ashamed during this transition. In a society that idealizes youth, this taboo renders female ageing invisible and reinforces degrading stereotypes, exposing women to ridicule or patronizing treatment that reduces their experience to clichés.

The data are revealing: 30% of women receive no support from their families. Symptoms such as emotional changes or decreased sexual desire often cause misunderstandings between partners, and may even lead to psychological violence. This stigma not only damages self-esteem, but also harms family relationships and perpetuates dynamics of exclusion.

How can we change the negative view of menopause as a “loss”?

To get away from this reductionist view, we must understand menopause as a natural phase of the life cycle, with its challenges but also opportunities for growth. This calls for gender-sensitive information, positive images in the media, stigma-free spaces for dialogue, effective support networks, public policies that guarantee rights and truly comprehensive healthcare that addresses the physical, emotional and social aspects. The ultimate goal is to normalize this stage, as has been done with adolescence and motherhood, embracing it fully in educational, cultural and public debate.

What urgent measures do companies and policymakers need to take to support women during menopause?

The figures are shocking: 10% of women leave their jobs due to menopause, 14% reduce their working hours and 8% miss out on promotions (figures from the United Kingdom). Some 4% identify menopause symptoms as a direct cause for dismissal. This situation is even worse for working-class women or women with disabilities, who suffer from worse symptoms and experience intersectional discrimination.

To change this, policymakers and organizations must recognize menopause as a matter of human rights. Urgent measures include reviewing organizational policies regarding flexible hours, breaks and teleworking; implementing awareness and psychological support programmes; adapting physical spaces (ventilation, quiet areas, access to water), and establishing monitoring systems.

Simple changes, such as normalizing dialogue about menopause in the workplace, can make all the difference, showing that there are no excuses for ignoring the health rights of menopausal women.

How does the lack of medical consensus on how to treat menopause affect women, and what role can psychology play?

Diverging medical approaches lead to confusion and to a fragmented care system that fails to comprehensively address the physical, psychological and emotional changes of menopause. This uncertainty leaves many women without adequate support during this change.

So, psychological support is fundamental: firstly, by helping each woman make sense of her personal experience in terms of her own context, history and relationships, and secondly, in terms of managing the anxiety associated with the symptoms, improving self-esteem and helping women to adapt in their personal, family and working lives. It also plays a key role in deconstructing stigmatizing discourses and encouraging an empowered vision that fosters self-acceptance and emotional well-being.

How can behavioural design be applied to improve the lives of menopausal women in the workplace?

Behavioural design allows us to move from awareness to action, generating tangible changes in how organizations operate on a daily basis. This approach, combined with a feminist and psychosocial perspective, can effectively contribute to creating fairer, healthier and more empathetic environments for women during menopause.

More specifically, this perspective allows interventions to be designed using nudges that encourage positive behaviour: making accessible information about menopause visible in the workplace, implementing active break reminders and setting up confidential channels for women to talk about their needs. It also involves rethinking internal policies to avoid implicit penalties, redesigning evaluation systems to take diverse backgrounds into account, adapting physical environments and dress codes, and issuing institutional messages that normalize menopause as a natural part of working life.

What ethical dilemmas do psychologists face when addressing issues of gender and health, particularly relating to menopause?

Professionals face a number of key ethical challenges. The first is to avoid uncritically reproducing the dominant biomedical discourse, which pathologizes menopause by focusing only on symptoms, while ignoring women's subjective experiences, the sociocultural context and gender dimensions, resulting in medicalizing interventions with no connection to life experience.

A second dilemma involves false neutrality: ignoring the gender inequalities, ageism and discrimination that affect women at this stage. This constitutes not only symbolic violence but also a lack of professional responsibility.

Finally, there is the challenge of respecting women's autonomy and diversity of experiences. Women don't all experience menopause in the same way, so it's crucial to avoid normative approaches. Ethical practice requires active listening, providing non-judgemental support and recognizing women's right to navigate this stage according to their diverse values, needs and cultural frameworks.

Your book addresses ethics in psychology. What do you think are the most urgent ethical challenges today?

Psychology currently faces complex ethical challenges arising from social changes, the impact of technology and new forms of intervention. One key challenge relates to intervention in contexts of vulnerability, which require more than just applying psychological techniques. We must also consider the structural conditions, such as gender, class or mental health, that shape people's lives.

Another crucial challenge is the use of technology in professional practice and how to ensure the ethical quality of online interventions. The issues range from maintaining confidentiality to establishing meaningful therapeutic relationships via screens.

Finally, there is the dilemma of finding the balance between respecting users' autonomy and protecting them: we must respect their decisions but also know when to intervene to prevent harm. This is especially difficult in a society that prioritizes speed and efficiency, putting pressure on our professional practice.

These and other dilemmas are tackled in La ética en la práctica psicológica. Dilemas y retos, which invites us to reflect on how to practise our profession with responsibility and a commitment to people's well-being.

What lines of research are you interested in developing on gender and health?

Taboos and gaps in our knowledge still affect the relationship between gender and health, and biomedical discourse often simplifies complex realities. We urgently need to study the experience of menopause in trans and non-binary people, an underexplored area in a field where research focuses predominantly on cisgender women. This is not only because of the need for epistemic justice; we also need to generate inclusive knowledge that reflects the diversity of real-life experiences.