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Menopausal women must be free from workplace discrimination, GMB members demand

CHANGE is needed so menopausal women no longer have to face “stigma, shame and discrimination” at work, GMB members demanded today.

Delegates at the general union’s annual congress unanimously backed a motion which instructed GMB to continue rolling out awareness training of the natural condition’s often debilitating symptoms. 

The union must also campaign, “as far as is practicable, to legislate for menopausal leave to be a protected characteristic” under the Equality Act 2010, it added.

Tory ministers rejected calls for a large-scale pilot of menopausal leave in January. 

London region member Vicky Hood told delegates in Brighton: “Menopausal people in this country are so often ridiculed and maligned for experiencing natural human bodily changes.

“Images of hysterical, emotional women going through the change is just another way in which the patriarchal status quo is upheld.”

Research revealing 10 per cent of women aged 45 to 55 have left work because of crippling symptoms shows “we’re losing workers because we still refuse to talk about women’s health openly,” she warned.

The 30-year-old added: “In 20 years, I don’t want to have to face the same stigma, shame and discrimination that my foremothers fought against.”

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