For those who haven’t heard the term before, perimenopause is the phase that comes before menopause, and can last up to 10 years, and start as early as your 30s.
For some women and people who menstruate, the symptoms of both menopause and perimenopause can be physically and mentally debilitating, with significant financial consequences.
I’m certainly not the first person to experience brain fog, anxiety and depression as a result of perimenopause, in addition to the sleep disruption and sweats. So why isn’t our Parliament already dealing with these issues?
Last November, I initiated a Senate inquiry into menopause and perimenopause, to see what needs to be improved at the federal policy level to support women with health and wellbeing impacts, workplace impacts, and impacts on the broader economy.
The first hearings of the Senate inquiry start on Monday, and Senators will hear from and get to ask questions of experts, academics, health and workplace practitioners, and – most importantly – people with lived experience of perimenopause and menopause. We will then collate that into a report that builds on that evidence to suggest policy changes that the federal government is then obliged to consider and respond to.
I was blown away by the support from all sides of politics on this issue, as well as from the public.
And while perimenopause may not have been mentioned in Parliament before last year, since the inquiry was established we’ve heard menopause mentioned more than ever before, from Imogen Crump’s brilliant handling of a menopause symptom live on air, to Kaz Cooke and Judith Lucy’s riotous ‘Kaz & Jude’s Menopausal Night Out’ tour – which I caught in Meanjin/Brisbane and can highly recommend – no longer are women accepting the notion that we must suffer in silence.
When I established this inquiry, there was also immediate pushback on bringing the issue into workplaces, as though this would somehow set gender equality in the workplace back. But you can’t solve discrimination – gender, pregnancy, menopause, or any other kind – by continuing to ignore it.
Unions have already started campaigning on this issue, proposing a policy to give employees who have painful periods or menopause symptoms paid leave — similar to the family and domestic violence leave policy.
In the health space, I hear SO MANY stories from women that they had to go to numerous different GPs before their symptoms were accurately identified as peri or menopause. Clearly we need more awareness by GPs (and patients!) of the symptoms of peri and menopause, so that people know what treatments are available to them, and importantly those treatments must be affordable for all.
In Senate estimates last week we learned that the sole oral menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is being discontinued – after the company that makes it decided to divest from women’s health and instead concentrate on Viagra, seriously!
The gendered cost of treating the symptoms of peri and menopause is yet another financial burden that only people who menstruate face, on top of the costs of a lifetime of period products.
Losing therapeutic options from the PBS leaves women having to self-fund their menopause treatment, and for many this is not an option. We know that single Australian women over 60 are the most likely household to live in poverty; spending the last of their earning years funding menopause treatment because it has fallen off the PBS is hardly likely to improve that statistic.
After reading so many submissions from women, healthcare professionals, experts and advocates in this space, I cannot wait for the public hearings for this inquiry, which will kick off in Sydney on Monday. And for a dynamite report which we will pressure the Government of the day to implement the recommendations of – because women are worth it!
The Senate inquiry into the issues related to menopause and perimenopause will report its findings by 10 September 2024. Hearings will be broadcast publicly and you can listen to them here.
Feature Image: Senator Larissa Waters.