Australian women could face further workplace stigma and miss out on the support they need, even if menopause leave is implemented, health experts say.
Menopause leave has been proposed as a potential fix at a Senate inquiry into issues relating to menopause and perimenopause, which heard earlier that symptoms from the condition are driving women to early retirement.
A survey of about 700 people conducted by Circle In found 83 per cent of respondents who had experienced menopause said it negatively affected them at work but only 70 per cent felt comfortable speaking to their managers about it.
But there are other factors that need to be considered with mandating leave for menopause, experts told the inquiry on Tuesday.
Monash University Women's Health Research Program head Susan Davis told the inquiry that providing women with better healthcare and support could prevent their exodus from the workforce.
"There are lots of reasons women get to mid-life and they're not performing well at work - and it's not just about menopause," Prof Davis told the inquiry on Tuesday.
"Caring for women before they even get to menopause will change their transition, so we need not catastrophise it."
Such leave policies risk labelling women as being impaired in their work performance just because they are going through menopause, Prof Davis said.
Women are also over-represented in the casualised workforce and Monash Centre for Health Research Implementation director Helena Teede says any workplace policy changes that fuels this figure will have "profound" financial and health implications for women.
There are many other factors that worsen the symptoms of menopause and make returning to work difficult, she said.
For example, Australian women are delaying pregnancy until they are older and experiencing ill health before soon entering perimenopause, which can go one for two decades.
"How can we just wrap around a policy as simple as workplace leave, on a life phase that is normal and goes for up to 20 years?" Prof Teede said.
"To just focus on isolated leave, without evidence, would be probably not in the best interests of women."
Instead, governments and businesses implement proposals that are shown to improve outcomes for women like the continued use of telephone consultations rather than digital telehealth video calls.
The anxiety, brain fog, heavy bleeding and other symptoms experienced by women as they go through the hormonal changes in their bodies are treated with silence, Grace Molloy, CEO of Menopause Friendly Australia told the inquiry on Monday.
Women who were unable to work during menopause would retire about five years early, forgoing thousands in lost retirement savings, a report published by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia revealed.
Both professors noted a lack of research and quality data about the impact of menopause on work and urged for greater investment.
