Women are already 84 cents in the dollar of a man. They are also faced with additional profits loss, if they become mothers, in the form of what has been called the “penalty“- With recent results indicating a loss of up to $ 500,000 over a 30-year career.
Now comes a study claiming that women know another drop in income at the end of their years of procreation, and researchers have nicknamed it “Menopause penalty. “”
Economists from the University College London, the University of Bergen, the University of Stanford and the University of Delaware calculated that women undergo a reduction of 4.3% of their income, on average, in the four years following a diagnosis of menopause, with losses of 10% by the fourth year.
To draw their conclusions so far, the researchers have analyzed the data at the population of Sweden and Norway. He included medical records that identified the date of the first diagnosis of menopause for women born between 1961 and 1968 which had a diagnosis linked to menopause between the ages of 45 and 55.
About a third of women in menopause benefit from an official diagnosis, the main author and professor UCL Gabriella Conti dit Fortune, And concentrate the study on people with real medical diagnosis rather than in a certain age group was a means of considering something “visible and recording” than having a baby (as for the child’s penalty).
“He therefore does not say that every woman, when she has menopause, has a loss of salary of 10% – because many women have menopause and have not even serious symptoms,” explains Conti. “So it looks at the woman who has a severe menopause, in the sense that she has symptoms. It could be perimenopause, postmenopausic bleeding and different conditions. ” Once the diagnosis in place, the researchers have found that it is generally when various related conditions are diagnosed, thus affecting labor productivity.
“Thus, for example, we see that these women also receive a diagnosis of symptoms related to fatigue, headache, migraine, to feel it acute stress, to feel depressed. And when you have this variety of morbidities, you are probably unable to work as well as before, “she says. To find evidence, she said, the researchers observed the hours of work as a reflection of productivity.
The drop in income during menopause, they found, was mainly motivated by less time to work.
And the probability of claiming disabled insurance services increased by 4.8% in the four years following a diagnosis of menopause, which suggests that the symptoms of menopause have a significant impact on women’s work models, the team said.
Although the current results are limited to the two Scandinavian countries, Conti thinks they are translated. “My feeling is that, insofar as you know that the symptoms are the same in different countries, and that biology is the same, then the extent of the penalty is likely to depend on the context: the context of health care, that you have good access to care, that you have a treatment and the context of the workplace,” she said. Their research shows, she explains, that the attitudes of a workplace towards menopause play a big role in these results.
“If you can welcome women [in menopause]And to create a place of support work, then it can also make a big difference, ”she said, pointing, for example, to a new British certification For workplaces adapted to menopause – which has an American company, CVS, among the certified.
This is why, following their lost wage results, researchers call for an increased awareness of menopause – as well as better support and better access to care.
“All women go through menopause, but each woman’s experience is unique,” said Conti in a press release. “We have examined women with a medical menopause diagnosis, so these women may have felt more serious symptoms than the general population. Our study shows how the negative impacts of the menopause penalty vary considerably to the other between women. ”
The people most affected by the drop in income and the hours worked were women without a university degree, which already makes lower income.
“Graduated women tend to be better informed of the symptoms of menopause and more aware of their processing options,” said Conti. “This can mean that they are better equipped to adapt and continue to work throughout their menopause.”
She added: “Our results suggest that better information and better access to menopause care is crucial to eliminate menopause penalty and guarantee that work places can better support women during this transition.”
Learn more about women’s health:
- 5 symptoms that women over 40 should always take seriously
- The Xers generation requires Hormonal Menopause drugs, and they will not take no for a response
- CVS is the first American company to be appointed a “friendly” workplace
- Actress Halle Berry becomes a major player in the $ 17 billion menopause care market
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
