One Billion Women, One Global Workforce: The International Menopause Society Calls for Workplace Awareness and Support This World Menopause Day
At any given time, one billion women worldwide are navigating menopause. That means from the boardroom to reception, frontline to back office, workplaces everywhere are affected. Yet for too many, this life stage is still experienced in silence, stigma, or without adequate support.
Ahead of World Menopause Day 2025 on 18 October, the International Menopause Society (IMS), founder of the event in 2009, is urging employers and HR leaders to take meaningful steps to support women through menopause at work. By ending the stigma and silence that still surrounds this life stage, women everywhere can access consistent, evidence-based support, helping them feel better and work better.
The newly released IMS White Paper, The Role of Lifestyle Medicine in Menopausal Health: A Review of Non-Pharmacologic Interventions, highlights the power of lifestyle approaches, including sleep, nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and social connection, in easing symptoms, protecting long-term health, and improving quality of life.
For HR leaders, the findings translate into practical, actionable steps that go beyond awareness days and policy statements:
- Training managers to have supportive, confident conversations about menopause
- Adapting workplaces with small but meaningful environmental changes that allow for time off to go to appointments, an open door policy with HR, flexible hours and relaxation areas
- Embedding menopause into wellbeing strategies, alongside mental health, nutrition, and sleep
- Fostering open cultures that reduce stigma and allow women to thrive
“Menopause is not a disease, but it can bring symptoms and health risks that need personalised care. This year’s White Paper shows convincing evidence that lifestyle medicine, healthy eating, regular activity, good sleep, emotional wellbeing, and supportive relationships, can make a real difference. Together with other evidence-based treatments when needed, these approaches give women the tools to make informed choices and feel strong and well through this stage of life,” says Professor Rossella Nappi, President of IMS (2024–2026).
“Lifestyle medicine is at the heart of menopause care, by focusing on nutrition, physical activity, stress management, avoidance of risky substances, restorative sleep, and strong social connections, we empower women to take control of their health and improve their quality of life during this pivotal transition,” adds Dr Chika Anekwe.
Professor Nappi concludes, “Employers and HR teams have a unique opportunity to support women at midlife. By creating flexible, inclusive, and stigma-free workplaces, they not only improve women’s health and wellbeing but also strengthen retention, performance, and leadership pathways. Menopause is a workforce issue as much as a health issue.”
The 2025 IMS White Paper, The Role of Lifestyle Medicine in Menopausal Health: A Review of Non-Pharmacologic Interventions, plus factsheets and additional resources are available at:
https://www.imsociety.org/education/world-menopause-day-2025/
The International Menopause Society (IMS) is a membership organisation that brings together the world’s leading experts to collaborate and share knowledge about all aspects of ageing in women.
The IMS mission is to work globally to promote and support access to best practice health care for women through their menopause transition and post-reproductive years, enabling them to achieve optimal health and well-being.
The vision is that all women across the world will have easy and equitable access to evidence-based knowledge and health care, empowering them to make fully informed midlife health choices.
