Why retaining women at the height of their careers requires more than a diversity commitment
Since it has become clear that organisations that are deliberate about ensuring diversity in leadership tend to be more successful, many organisations have been trying to strengthen the pipeline of women into senior leadership. They invest in development programmes targeting women, are intentional around targets and succession plans, as well as mentoring of women in the leadership pipeline. Then, just as many women reach the point at which their experience, judgement and influence are at their most valuable they hit a wall. A natural biological transition suddenly makes remaining at work considerably harder – and the organisation is often entirely unprepared for it.
That contradiction deserves far more attention than it receives.
Menopause is usually placed in the category of women’s health. It is that, of course. But in the workplace, it is also an issue of leadership, talent, culture and organisational resilience. It affects women who lead. It affects how other leaders interpret and respond to them. And it affects whether organisations retain some of their most experienced people at the very stage of their careers when they have the most to contribute.
It is the collision no one prepares us for. Both female and male leaders walk into this reality almost, if not completely, blindfolded. I confess I was one of those female leaders who are as clueless about this leadership matters as our male counterparts.
I had been a CEO for almost ten years when I sat in front of my doctor and asked for something for anxiety. I felt as though I was having a panic attack. The experience left me utterly bewildered. Yes, I was navigating an exceptionally difficult period in my career, but difficulty itself was not new to me. I had faced threat, conflict and sustained pressure before. I have faced far greater challenges before. Why, then, did I suddenly feel unable to rely on the ever-present inner steadiness that had carried me through so much? I wondered whether I had somehow become less resilient.
Neither my doctor nor I connected the anxiety to menopause. I had no frame of reference. Like many women of my generation, my education about menopause had amounted to little more than knowing that women experienced hot flushes. Nobody had explained that the transition could also bring disrupted sleep, changes in mood, anxiety, difficulties with concentration and memory, palpitations, fatigue, joint pain and a range of other symptoms. Nobody had warned me that it could alter how I experienced myself. I was 49. I had reached a stage of professional maturity that had taken decades to build – and, at precisely that moment, my body introduced variables I did not understand.
Although it is hearing an increasing number of voices bringing menopause out of the cloaked closet, it is the collision we need to name in the context of leadership. Menopause does not politely wait until a woman’s work is done. For many women, it arrives during the years in which they are carrying their greatest professional responsibility: leading organisations, managing crises, making consequential decisions, developing others and holding demanding personal responsibilities at the same time.
The risk is not only what a woman experiences. It is how those experiences are interpreted. A senior woman who loses a word in a meeting may privately fear that she is losing her edge. I know all about the horrible feeling when simple words play hide and seek with you at a moment when you are trying to express a crucial concept. While you are quite clear on what it is that you need to express, the word escaping you could quite easily be interpreted as you not knowing what you are trying to say. A momentary absence of a word does not mean absence of knowledge. Irritability after repeated nights of broken sleep may be read as a personality problem. These days, when a female client says to me “I don’t know what is going on with me. I just uncharacteristically lost my cool in a meeting”, my very first response is to ask: “How old are you?”.
The significant and sudden shift in the reality of a female leader can shake her confidence as she battles to recognize herself. Too few have access to people who can help them through the transition and understand that it is temporary. But a temporary loss of confidence may be mistaken for a permanent loss of competence, and once that story takes hold, every ordinary mistake can become evidence for it.
This matters in workplaces where women leaders are already scrutinised more closely than men and where age and gender bias often reinforce one another. Symptoms that could be understood and supported may instead damage reputation, narrow opportunity or persuade a highly capable woman that it is time to leave.
We also need to resist the opposite error. Menopause does not render women fragile, and not every woman experiences it in the same way. I have often described it as each of us going in with our shopping basket and picking symptoms from an extraordinarily long list. I, for example, did not pick mood swings, but I did take a good measure of other symptoms like insomnia and weight gain. A menopause-aware organisation should not make assumptions about a woman’s health, ambition or capacity. Support must expand her choices, not quietly sideline her in the name of care. The leadership task is therefore one of discernment: neither deny the biological reality nor turn it into a new basis for discrimination.
A retention risk hiding in plain sight
The silence around menopause has a measurable organisational cost. While much more work is needed in the area, research has shown that a significant number of employees who had experienced menopause symptoms had at some point considered leaving work because of inadequate support. Some left because they did not feel supported. These are not merely personal decisions occurring beyond the organisation’s line of sight. They represent the potential loss of experience, institutional memory, relationships and leadership capacity.
The cost is particularly perverse at senior levels. Organisations may spend years investing in developing a woman and then lose her because they were unwilling to make modest adjustments during one phase of her working life. Recruiting a replacement will not immediately restore the judgement, credibility or tacit knowledge that walked out of the door with her.
This is why a menopause response belongs inside an organisation’s retention and succession strategy. If the strategy for retaining women does not consider what happens to them in midlife, it is incomplete.
What leadership requires
A policy can be helpful, but a policy alone will not change a woman’s experience. What matters is whether the surrounding culture makes it safe to ask for support without being seen as less capable.
That requires visible leadership from the top. Senior leaders should speak about menopause as a normal workplace reality and make clear that seeking an adjustment will not carry a career penalty. Managers need enough understanding to hold a respectful conversation, while also knowing the limits of their role: they are there to listen, protect confidentiality and explore work-related support – not to diagnose or prescribe.
Practical support need not be elaborate. Depending on the individual and the nature of the work, it may include flexibility in working hours or location, greater control over temperature, access to a quiet space, thoughtful scheduling after periods of disrupted sleep, temporary workload adjustments, or access to appropriate occupational-health and healthcare support. The governing principle should be individualisation. Ask the woman what would help; do not decide for her.
Organisations should also examine the system rather than waiting for individual women to disclose deeply personal information. Do managers know how to respond? Can employees access support confidentially? Are midlife women leaving, declining promotion or taking extended absence at a disproportionate rate? Do performance and talent processes allow temporary symptoms to harden into enduring judgements about potential? These are leadership questions, not administrative ones.
Men matter in this work too. Male leaders shape the climate in which women decide whether disclosure is safe. A dismissive joke can undo years of inclusion messaging; an informed and respectful response can preserve dignity, trust and talent. Menopause should not become another problem women are expected to solve for themselves.
Women need knowledge – organisations need accountability
There is also a personal leadership dimension. Women need better knowledge of their own bodies and permission to seek appropriate professional help. Understanding what is happening can interrupt the frightening conclusion that we are suddenly becoming less capable or less ourselves. It can help us distinguish between a symptom that needs attention, a workplace condition that needs adjustment and a deeper leadership issue that must still be addressed.
But personal agency must not become organisational abdication. Telling women to become more resilient, manage their symptoms privately or conceal what they are experiencing simply preserves a workplace designed around a male life course. Women should not have to perform wellness in order to protect their credibility.
When I was advised by an older woman to hide my symptoms – particularly from men – I chose another route. The more openly I spoke, the more women told me that they too had been struggling in silence. Speaking did not diminish my leadership. It helped me understand the experience, seek better support and make it easier for others to do the same.
That is one of the responsibilities carried by women who already hold power: not to disclose more than we choose, but to help dismantle the shame that leaves the women behind us without language or support.
The real test of an organisation’s commitment
An organisation’s commitment to women is not tested only when it appoints them. It is tested when their lives no longer fit the assumptions on which the workplace was built.
Menopause can be difficult, but it is not the end of a woman’s power. With knowledge, appropriate healthcare and a responsive working environment, women can continue to lead with all the authority, wisdom and judgement they have spent a lifetime developing.
The strategic question is simple: will organisations create the conditions in which they can stay? Do Boards, and in particular the Board Committees dealing with human resource matters, have the retention of female leaders squarely on their agendas? Does it include menopause as a critical leadership issue?
If the answers matter, menopause cannot remain a private discomfort, an awkward joke or a paragraph buried in a wellness policy. It must become part of how leaders think about talent, culture, succession and retention.
Because women should not reach the height of their careers only to discover that the workplace has made no provision for the realities of their bodies.
Menopause is a leadership issue. It is time we led accordingly.
If you are exploring these questions in your own leadership journey, you are welcome to connect or learn more about my work here: Board Services and Executive Support
