Health1 min read

Not just a women's issue: The hidden cost of menopause on the economy

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

As Singapore's resident workforce ages, advocates are pressing organizations to address the disruption caused by menopausal symptoms such as brain fog and disrupted sleep. Female staff face starkly different workplace realities, with some professionals taking unpaid leave while hourly retail workers must work through severe discomfort to maintain essential income. Advocacy groups like AWARE emphasize that managers require education to prevent unnecessary career exits, pointing to international studies that document severe financial tolls on national productivity.

Key points

  • Unaddressed menopausal symptoms severely threaten workplace performance and retention acr…: Unaddressed menopausal symptoms severely threaten workplace performance and retention across an ageing domestic talent pool.
  • Lower-income and retail employees encounter greater hardship managing chronic symptoms du…: Lower-income and retail employees encounter greater hardship managing chronic symptoms due to their financial dependence on regular hours.
  • Advocacy groups are urging corporate leaders to educate managers because informal workpla…: Advocacy groups are urging corporate leaders to educate managers because informal workplace inflexibility harms wider economic productivity.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Every woman goes through menopause in middle life. With Singapore's workforce ageing, experts are calling for more research into the challenges faced by employees during this life stage, and what companies can do to support them.

Menopause hit Ms Joanna hard two years ago.

The 51-year-old the civil servant, who asked to be identified only by her first name, was facing a perfect storm of pressures.

She was coping with menopause-related mood swings, difficulty readjusting to life in Singapore after living overseas for more than two years, the demands of caring for ageing family members and the deaths of several family members and friends.

Her symptoms, including hot flushes and disrupted sleep, had begun when she was around 47, she recalled.

But as the pressures mounted, her emotions became overwhelming and began to affect her performance at work. That's when she knew she needed professional help.

"I had never felt depressed before – never such a depression that I would actually burst out crying for no reason. So it kind of scared me when it happened to me."

She said…

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