It’s hard enough being a woman in corporate America. Try being one going through menopause. You’re sitting in a meeting of mostly men when a wave of heat starts burning up inside you. Sweat drips down your face. But bring attention to the issue? Most women will go to great lengths to hide their symptoms. Some even quit their jobs.

They will tell you it’s just too dangerous a topic at work. There’s the fear of appearing weak, out of control or over the hill. It’s another reason to be discriminated against. Some women have taken leaves of absence because they were so embarrassed, which later affected their ability to move up in an organization.

In most offices today, menopause wouldn’t be wise to discuss. It’s too risky because of the misconceptions that prevail—although it’s being discussed openly outside of work in books and lectures for men and women.

But with nearly half the workforce made up of women—many who plan to work well into their fifties--maybe it’s time to recognize it as a health issue affecting the workplace. Just as companies have addressed issues around having children, it seems time to break the taboo on menopause.

It got talked about more when results of a survey of 960 members of the National Association for Female Executives age 35 and over were presented at the North American Menopause Society annual meeting. Seventy four percent of respondents who experience menopausal symptoms said at least one symptom has been problematic and disruptive to their lives and are concerned symptoms will occur at inconvenient times.

Diane DiLalla can attest to that. Starting at age 51, she says, “I’d be sitting in a meeting—even in the dead of winter--and start burning up inside, as if something inside me just wanted to get out.”

A financial analyst for an event production firm in Rochester, New York, she says, “I’d start fanning myself and I know my facial expression changed. It was embarrassing. We’re a small, casual company and it didn’t bother me when someone would say, ‘Stay away from her, “she’s having a hot flash again.’ I can take a joke. But I can sympathize with women who are more sensitive.”

Other times she tried not to react. “I’d sit there gritting my teeth and grabbing a hold of the chair and no one noticed.”

The way it stands now, menopause is mostly ignored and misunderstood—typically joked about in the workplace. Take the encounter between the female U.S. vice president and speaker of the House on the ABC television program, Commander-In-Chief. He wants her to resign so she can’t take over the role of president. Discussing the role of a woman as the leader of the free world, he says, “How many Islamic states do you think will follow the edicts of a woman? Very few, I fear.”

She calmly but sarcastically replies, “Well, not only that, Nathan, but we have that whole once-a-month will she or won’t she press the button thing.” He laughs and says, “Well, couple years, you’re not going to have to worry about that anymore.”

The number of baby boomers going through menopause is increasing at a rate of two million a year. Typically, women enter, experience or exit menopause between age 45 to 59. There are medicines and treatments—an issue women are confused about. But as talk of the linkage between quality of life and productivity at work prevails, perhaps this topic that’s been shrouded in secrecy and snickers should be part of that discussion.

We could start by asking how it’s a workplace issue. How the physical and emotional toll of menopause affects women and what can be done. Whether employers have discriminatory attitudes towards older women. What human resources departments and health plans can do. Yes, it’s a touchy subject. But it’s one that has an impact on over 16 million women in the U.S. workforce and we need to start some place.

© by Andrea Kay