Start with men: universities must do more on menopause education

Imagine waking up with aching joints, a throbbing headache and brain fog so dense that concentration feels impossible. Now imagine walking on to a university campus and delivering a lecture to hundreds of students in that state. Finally, imagine that most of your colleagues – many of them decent, well‑meaning men – have no idea you are suffering, and their silence makes your working day harder.

Welcome to the reality of menopause in UK higher education.

Every woman’s experience is different. For some, the transition is barely noticeable; for others, it is debilitating. Symptoms include hot flushes, night sweats, anxiety, depression, insomnia, palpitations, joint pain and brain fog. A one‑size‑fits‑all approach misunderstands the condition.

I am a man who has spent more than two decades in human resources (HR) and academia – at the University of Bradford, Loughborough University and the University of Leeds. I have designed curricula, written inclusion policies and advised senior leaders. Yet I missed something critical: I did not properly understand the menopause.

I always considered myself sympathetic, but I now see a male‑centric, paternalistic flaw. We spent too little time covering menopause in our teaching, sending generations of managers – many of them men – into the workplace unprepared.

I understand now only because the menopause has hit people close to me. Most men do not grasp the severity until it arrives in their own homes. We wait for our wives, daughters or others to suffer before we act. Meanwhile, millions of women – including our academic colleagues – endure symptoms without proper support. As men, we share a responsibility to act.

The cost of unconscious inaction

The statistics are stark. One in 10 women who have worked during the menopause have left their jobs because of the symptoms. A 2019 survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that three in five menopausal women aged between 45 and 55 had been negatively affected at work, yet less than one in four had requested any adjustment.

Why such silence? Women fear the discomfort of managers, often men. Discomfort creates a vacuum where support should be.

Male domination in leadership means institutional priorities have historically been shaped by male experiences. Women are expected to conform to professional standards established by those who do not experience menstruation or menopause.

In my experience, men in university leadership are not deliberately excluding women. But a lack of awareness can negatively impact female colleagues experiencing menopause. Cognitive symptoms are mistaken for incompetence. Requests for flexibility when fatigue or temperature dysregulation hits are met with silence, signalling that asking for help is risky.

If men experienced these symptoms, menopause definitely would not be treated as an outlier. Its lack of open discussion reflects a broader moral failing. We have a duty to recognise it, speak about it and help shoulder the burden. After all, it affects the women in our lives – our partners, daughters, aunts, nieces, colleagues and friends

Policies are passive. For the busy, time‑pressed male professor, they are easy to ignore. Action is not. Change requires this from men in everyday interactions.

• Menstruation, maternity, menopause: making space in the academy for all elements of womanhood
• Gender equality in higher education: how to overcome key challenges
• Academia can never be ‘just a job’ (and why that is OK)

Root‑and‑branch training for all staff, repeated regularly

Universities must deliver comprehensive, regular menopause training without delay. Crucially, it must address perimenopause, the stage when symptoms begin in a woman’s late thirties or early forties, long before periods stop. Many male academics do not realise that colleagues in the prime of their careers may already be silently struggling.

Training must be mandatory for line managers and senior leaders, with attendance rates published annually. It should be an ongoing process, refreshed regularly.

Embed menopause in the curriculum

We cannot claim to be educators if we fail to educate ourselves and our students. Menopause must be incorporated into teaching across disciplines – not just HR or medicine. If we normalise discussion of menopause in law, business and social sciences courses, we create a future workforce that does not need a personal connection to a menopausal woman to understand her needs. Universities should track which departments have integrated the topic into curricula and gather student feedback.

The Westminster All‑Party Parliamentary Group on Menopause called on professional bodies to ensure that menopause is included in relevant training programmes in 2022. Universities should heed that call.

Build the business case with sector‑specific data

Universities are ideally placed to develop credible analysis of the benefits of proactive menopause support in collaboration with professional bodies such as the CIPD and Advance HE.

In higher education, where women make up a slight minority of academic staff but a majority of the overall workforce, and the staff profile is ageing, the financial impact is acute. For a medium‑sized university, failing to support menopausal staff could mean losing dozens of valued employees. A comprehensive support programme costs a fraction of the recruitment and training expenses required to replace staff. Measuring outcomes – absence rates, retention and promotion rates for women aged between 45 and 60 – should become standard HR practice, as should annual reports to governing bodies.

Move beyond legal minimums

While the Equality Act 2010 does not specifically name menopause, it provides protection from discrimination on the grounds of sex, age and disability where symptoms have a long‑term and substantial impact. Universities must go further.

Menopause must never be confused with a capability issue. Line managers need the soft skills to move from monitoring output to managing people. This means reframing the conversation from a performance‑focused critique (“Your last two reports were late”) to a supportive approach (“Your last two reports have been late, which isn’t like you. Is there anything I can help with?”). That opens the door for disclosure without the manager making assumptions.

As every woman’s journey is different, reasonable adjustments must be tailored. For one woman, this might mean flexible start times; for another, a cooler workspace or a desk near a window; for a third, simply the assurance that she can step away briefly during a hot flush without judgement. These adjustments are not special treatment; they are sensible management.

The role of men

The problem in higher education is not a handful of hostile misogynists. It is the vast majority of men who say nothing, do nothing and hope someone else will handle it. We cannot wait for menopause to affect our wives, daughters and others before we take it seriously. We must act now, for our colleagues.

Universities have the research capacity, the educational mission and the moral obligation to lead on this issue. It is time for men in academia to step up, drive the conversation and share the burden. If we cannot create a supportive environment for the people delivering our research and teaching, we are failing not just as managers, but as educators.

Mark Butterick is an independent academic, formerly at the University of Leeds, the University of Bradford and Loughborough University.

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