They Called It Attitude.
It Was Menopause.
She was not “difficult.”
She was exhausted.
She was not losing interest in leadership.
She was trying to lead through brain fog, anxiety, disrupted sleep, hot flushes, memory lapses and a healthcare system that often failed to recognise what was happening to her.
For too many Black and women of colour, menopause does not begin with support. It begins with confusion, silence and self-doubt.
One woman described sitting in meetings terrified she would forget her words halfway through a presentation. Another worried her annual review would suffer because colleagues mistook cognitive symptoms for incompetence.
Others quietly reduced their hours or stepped away from leadership altogether, not because they lacked capability, but because surviving the workday had become emotionally and physically draining.
Research from University College London found that over half of Black women surveyed felt completely uninformed about menopause before the age of forty. Many described negative experiences with healthcare professionals, with some saying they felt dismissed, unheard or forced to self-diagnose before receiving support.
The reality is even more complex. Studies from the SWAN research programme found Black and Hispanic women often experience menopause earlier and for longer than white women. Yet despite this, workplace policies, healthcare conversations and leadership cultures still rarely reflect those experiences.
This is where the conversation becomes uncomfortable.
Women are being labelled “too emotional,” “less resilient,” “withdrawn,” “angry” or “hard to manage” at the exact moment they may be navigating one of the most significant hormonal and neurological transitions of their lives.
Then race enters the room.
The data repeatedly shows that progress for “women” in the workplace does not always mean progress for all women equally. Black and women of colour often carry the combined weight of gender bias, racial bias, cultural silence and medical dismissal simultaneously.
The cost is not only personal. It is organisational.
Confidence drops. Visibility shrinks. Talented women opt out of leadership pipelines. Businesses lose experience, insight and institutional knowledge they cannot easily replace.
This is no longer simply a wellbeing issue it is a leadership issue.
A workplace equity issue.A retention issue.An economic issue.
Women should not have to become experts in suffering before organisations learn how to respond with humanity.
The question is no longer whether menopause is affecting the workplace. The question is whether workplaces are finally ready to stop misreading women’s pain as poor performance.
If this spoke to something you have experienced, witnessed or quietly carried, like, comment and share. Someone in your network may need this conversation more than you realise.
Join the conversation on Thursday 22 May, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM.
Reserve your place here: : https://www.nbwn.org/event-details/second-spring
