What’s changed for workplaces after the Senate Inquiry into Menopause?

This article was first published in The Mandarin , October 2025.

Over the past few years, menopause has emerged from the shadows and into the spotlight of public life. A global menopause “#metoo” movement has been unfolding, bringing long-silenced experiences into the open and onto government agendas. In our own federal parliament, the m-word was mentioned over 100 times since January.

Across the world, momentum for workplace change is building. In July 2025, the UK government announced that employers with more than 250 staff will be legally required to introduce Menopause Action Plans by 2027. Such plans are to improve workplace support through measures such as staff education, open communication, tackling stigma and offering accommodations such as temperature control.

Rhode Island, a small state in the northeast of the USA, not typically known for its diversity policies, has legislated menopause as a reason for workplace accommodations.

These moves are shifting menopause from being a personal health issue to be solved alone, to a recognised workplace rights issue. This new positioning needs to respect that some women prefer to keep their experience private. 

So how is Australia responding, one year on from our Senate Inquiry into menopause and perimenopause? In short: progress on health, workplace reforms still under review, new research funded – but national data on workplace practice remains missing.

A landmark inquiry

The Inquiry received 290 submissions and involved seven public hearings nationwide. A consistent theme rang through: women typically enter this life-stage largely clueless and those who struggle with symptoms do not receive adequate support from the healthcare system nor understanding from their workplaces.

The government tabled its response in September 2024, and since then the Albanese government has since committed $573 million to women’s health. Amongst the measures: GP training is now subsidised; longer Medicare appointments for menopause are now available; modern menopause hormone therapy is now on the PBS; funding has been allocated for clinical guidelines and a national awareness campaign to be developed. But when it comes to the world of work — where symptoms can collide with career trajectories — change has been less visible. In a recent podcast interview reported in the Canberra Times, however, Minister for Women and the Public Service Katy Gallagher clearly signalled that she is keen for the APS to become a model employer in this space.

Menopause in the workplace

Let’s examine how Australia has responded to the Inquiry’s recommendations related to the workplace.

Flexible work (Recommendation 6).
The Inquiry committee called for changes to Section 65 of the Fair Work Act, so that people who experience menopause could request flexible arrangements during menopause.  This recommendation gets my number one vote. Women experiencing menopausal symptoms consistently cite flexible work as the most helpful adjustment – it enables women to manage symptoms and get on with the job, often removing the need to take leave. So it’s beneficial for both the woman and the employer. To be fair this right should probably extend to other women’s health and reproductive issues. 

Flexible work is harder to implement in frontline, feminised sectors such as hospitality, health and education, which is why awareness, training, and a supportive environment shouldgo hand in hand with policy reform.

The government deferred action on flexibility for menopause until completion of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay review. The report was tabled on August 14, 2025 and concluded there wasn’t yet enough evidence to extend flexible work provisions further, though it recommended research into whether menopause should be listed as a protected attribute.

Reproductive health leave? (Recommendation 8). Menopause leave was, without doubt, the most divisive issue of the Inquiry. It was so heated, in fact, that at one point the committee had to clear the floor to calm tensions. Unions argued strongly for legislated reproductive health leave, that could be taken for menopause symptoms, while others cautioned that it risked singling out women, casting women as costly employees and burdening small businesses.

The government “noted” the recommendation and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) states that it continues to monitor domestic and international developments in this area, including capturing IVF/reproductive leave, menstrual leave and menopause leave in its database of approved enterprise agreements. Between January 2023 and March 2025, 0.8% of federal enterprise agreements included menopause leave, 0.8% menstrual leave, and 1.7% reproductive leave.

Some examples of workplaces that are offering leave (either via bargaining or employer led) are the Queensland and Victorian governments, IPG Media brands, a number of superannuation funds, Publicis Groupe ANZ and the University of Melbourne, to name a few.  Unions continue to push for a nationwide standard of 12 days paid reproductive health leave through the National Employment Standards. 

In my opinion, national reproductive leave is not the silver bullet. As I stated at the Sydney hearing, if a woman is so debilitated that she cannot work, that represents a failure of our health system and reflects health professionals’ lack of training. Shifting the cost and responsibility to workplaces isn’t fair nor is it solving the problem.  In addition, sending women home means that workplaces don’t need to change. Creating a workplace culture where menopause can be named and normalised – with small, practical accommodations – is ultimately more powerful.

Workplace policies (Recommendation 7).   Here, there has been some action. The government ‘noted’ the recommendation that Australian workplaces develop perimenopause and menopause policies in consultation with employees. In March 2025, the Australian Public Service Commission issued guidance requiring federal agencies to support staff experiencing menopause.  It would be valuable to see reporting across the APS on how widely this guidance is being adopted.

Encouragingly, I have worked with several government departments that are integrating menopause into their gender equity and WH&S strategies in thoughtful and staff-led ways.  

Data collection (Recommendation 5). The government supported, in principle, the reinstatement of menopause-related data collection through the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, but without a timeline. With voluntary data collection ending in 2024, we now lack national visibility of workplace practice — making it impossible to measure whether supports are widespread, tokenistic, or moving the dial on gender equity.

This week the government advised, “we are continuing to work through various legislative reform options needed to implement Recommendation 5.” A spokesperson for Minister Gallagher said: “Striking the right balance between protecting employee privacy and limiting unnecessary regulatory burdens on employers won’t be straight forward, but we are determined to get this right and deliver the best possible outcome for Australian women”. In summary, it’s on the agenda, they’re working on it -watch this space.

The Inquiry also called for research into the economic impact of menopause — including how symptoms affect participation, income, superannuation, and retirement. Encouragingly, two significant steps have been taken. The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health has now added work-related menopause questions to its midlife surveys. And the Medical Research Future Fund has awarded $4.9 million to the University of Queensland to investigate how menopause impacts women, including their work and career. This kind of nationally representative data will give us a clearer picture of how menopause, alongside other midlife demands, shapes women’s wellbeing and workforce engagement — and help employers, unions, and policymakers target solutions where they are most needed.

In need of a reframe as well as reforms

Menopause isn’t just in need of some overdue workplace reforms that acknowledge the reality of the female body.  It’s crying out for a reframe. I hear this from the women who attend my workplace programs. They tell me they want to hear “lots of positive stories [about menopause] they are hard to find,” and that menopause should be “a recognised rite of passage that’s celebrated.”  I couldn’t agree more. 

I do get concerned that along with the welcomed increase in awareness, there’s the potential to misrepresent the menopause transition as a terrifying list of symptoms rather than a developmental life stage that comes with considerable strengths that can be leveraged for a women’s career and for her organisation. I hope the national campaign and the funded research questions reflect this part of the story also.  Otherwise, we risk re-enforcing gendered ageism which is still alive and well.

Why menopause, and why now?

Some ask why focus on menopause when there are other women’s health issues that have been similarly taboo, under-researched and unsupported with knock-on effects to work. This is valid – it’s just that menopause has its #metoo movement that’s lifted the lid on this topic, which perhaps the other issues lacked.  Now the forerunner, menopause can be the catalyst that helps open up other needed conversations about women’s health.  Already I observe this happening – what starts as a menopause policy, often expands to cover menstruation and then women’s health more broadly.

A call to action

While the government continues its deliberations, World Menopause Day, which is coming up on 18 October, is a good time to start your own actions at your workplace. Open conversations. Educate managers. Make small adjustments. And most importantly, acknowledge and appreciate the attributes that midlife women bring to workplaces, which is precisely why we want to retain them.

Thea O’Connor is a workplace wellbeing advisor and founder of Menopause at Work® Asia  Pacific and TEDx speaker. She appeared at the Federal Senate Inquiry into Menopause and is a member of the national working group for the ISO guidelines on menstruation and menopause in the workplace, due for release early next year.