From left: Dave McGinn, reporter with the Globe and Mail, Stephanie Braid director of inclusion, diversity & equity at KPMG Canada: Ayman Alvi, vice-president of global pension and benefits at Scotiabank and Helena Pagano, executive vice-president, chief people and culture officer at Sun Life participated in a discussion on why education about women’s health and management flexibility are key to closing the workplace gender health gap.Maria Gagliardi Aragon/Blackrammedia
Women face a lifetime of health challenges that men often escape – issues such as menopause, endometriosis and fertility treatments that can shape their careers, earnings and quality of life.
Causes include lack of knowledge about women’s health, societal expectations and stigma around issues such as menopause, family planning, child care and mental health. These challenges are even sharper for women in marginalized communities.
At a recent Globe and Mail event, called Women’s Health at Work – Closing the Gender Gap, participants and leaders from business, finance and medical industries found cause for optimism that the stereotypes and silence that have impeded women’s progress in the workplace can eventually be overcome.
Keynote speaker Dr. Yolanda Kirkham, assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Toronto, explained to the audience at the event, sponsored by Sun Life, that misunderstandings about women’s health date back to ancient civilizations.
We hope we will be the last generation of women to be in the dark about menopause.
— Janet Ko, president and co-founder, Menopause Foundation of Canada
At the time of Aristotle, 2,400 years ago, doctors thought the female body was simply the male’s turned inside out. Women’s diseases were often dismissed as hysterical – emotional rather than physical – a term that remained in diagnostic manuals until the 1980s, Dr. Kirkham said.
Although there is more knowledge now of hormonal imbalance and fluctuation, there are still many stigmas around women’s health.
Because they don’t talk about subjects like menstruation, it’s been a detriment to women and employers as well, Dr. Kirkham said.
Education and awareness around menopause, which affects women at an age where they are often at the prime of their career potential, is also needed, she added.
For employers, simple things like lunch and learn is an opportunity to include everyone in the dialogue. More flexibility from human resources – for example, reducing the number of forms needed to be completed for treatments or maternity leaves – also shows support, Dr. Kirkham suggested.
Myths prevail in silence, said Liza Vityuk, partner at McKinsey & Company, whose McKinsey Health Institute analyzed 650 papers on 64 conditions that disproportionately affect women.
The biggest myth is that because women live longer than men, they must be healthier, Ms. Vityuk said, but in fact, women spend an average of 25 per cent more time in poor health than men do in their peak career years.
Women attending a Globe and Mail event, Women’s Health at Work – Closing the Gender Gap, sponsored by Sun Life, heard from leaders in the business, finance and medical sectors.Maria Gagliardi Aragon/Blackrammedia
Another myth is that the only differences between men and women’s health are sexual and reproductive health, when, in fact, there are a range of medical conditions, from autoimmune diseases to migraines, that disproportionately affect women. As well, outside of work, women typically cope with the lion’s share of child care and caring for aging parents.
Several participants of the panel discussions shared anecdotes that illustrated how their managers’ lack of knowledge and understanding of their health issues crashed their careers.
Janet Ko, president and co-founder of the Menopause Foundation of Canada, recalled how, at one company, she felt blindsided by the body aches, joint pain, heart palpitations and brain fog of perimenopause.
“Like so many women, I had never heard of perimenopause,” – which can last two to 10 years before and after menopause.
Feeling burnt out and confused, she eventually left a vice-president’s position at the company.
“Looking back, if I had gotten support and treatment, my career trajectory would have been quite different,” she said. “Sadly, my story is not unique.”
There are also sound business reasons for employers to become involved in the conversation. According to the Menopause Foundation, the impact of unmanaged symptoms of menopause results in an estimated 500,000 missed days of work and $230-million in lost productivity each year in Canada.
Women in their prime earning years are leaving money on the table because they may reduce their work hours, take lesser roles or leave their careers early.
“We hope we will be the last generation of women to be in the dark about menopause,” Ms. Ko said.
Another participant, Denise Campbell, who joined the board of the Endometriosis Network Canada in 2021, said she left her former job because of a lack of understanding at the management level, after going to work every day in excruciating pain from endometriosis. When the condition caused her fluid-filled lung to collapse, she was hospitalized.
Her managers dismissed her condition as pneumonia, she explained, and when her sick leave was over, they rejected her requests to take time off and refused to allow her to work from home. It forced her to go on long-term disability, which significantly reduced her income, she said.
For Shauna Mueller, a client strategist at creative media company Ready Set, having a flexible workplace with a management team that trusted her made it possible to juggle a four-year journey with fertility treatments while working full time and completing an MBA.
Ultimately, she and her husband abandoned invitro fertilization and sought to adopt, where an opening can become available with little advance notice, unlike a pregnancy with a due date, she explained. Fortunately, her managers were supportive and gave her a full maternity leave on three weeks’ notice to care for the baby.
Stories like these illustrate how essential it is to have discussions at all levels in the workplace, and expand education and awareness, Dr. Kirkham said.
“There is great cause for optimism that we can put the myths and misconceptions of the past behind us, she said. “We need to speak up and celebrate small wins. And in this way, come up with new, meaningful attitudes and changes that bring on respect and compassion.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to remove an inaccurate paraphrase attributed to Janet Ko.