Sorcery and success – tackling the taboo of menopause

The experience of ageing for many women in the western world is largely an exhausting battle with trios of ‘M’s. 

Regarding aesthetics – it’s Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance – the tiresome hair-dyeing, wrinkle-smoothing, the flab-busting burden of concealing the march of time.  

Regarding performance in the workplace and just general life management, a mature woman also often faces the self-esteem-sapping cognitive dysfunction that is MMM – Menopause Mush Mind. 

Women’s wellness champion Helen Normoyle, who co-founded My Menopause Centre with Dr Clare Spencer, says the menopause symptoms that most impact women in the workplace are “difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, fatigue, memory problems, feeling low and loss of confidence.”

Imagine if I could talk to anyone about my oestrogen levels with as much freedom as my husband can talk about the lack of cartilage in his knee.

“Research by Channel 4 and The Fawcett Society [reported in the C4 documentary Davina McCall: Sex, Mind and the Menopause] revealed how, in the UK one in 10 women have left their jobs because of menopause symptoms, with 84 per cent of women suffering sleep loss, and three-quarters (73 per cent) experiencing brain fog.”

Helen Normoyle, co-founder of My Menopause Centre. 

Despite these debilitating symptoms, the silence around discussing menopause is deafening. Lori Meakin, Co-Founder of agency Joint and Executive Committee member at WACL (Women in Advertising & Communications Leadership) comments: “Imagine if I could talk to anyone about my oestrogen levels with as much freedom as my husband can talk about the lack of cartilage in his knee.”

Jane Austin, Founder of Persuasion Communications says: “There are still far too few women in leadership positions over 40, let alone over 50, talking about how they are experiencing menopause in the workplace, so there’s also that problem of ‘seeing it to be it’ for other women when it comes to speaking up.” 

TENA's recent taboo-busting spot, #LastLonelyMenopause, was the winner of this year’s Channel 4 Diversity in Advertising Award.

This lack of representation at senior levels perpetuates the woeful lack of work featuring older women. 

“Ageing women overall are not a common topic of ad messaging,” says Maria Garrido, Global CMO Formerly Vivendi. She cites one Spanish art project inspired by interviews with menopausal women but notes, “in the year or so it's been active, it hasn't gained much traction, which may speak to the fact that the subject is still taboo in this culture.”

Vicki Maguire, CCO Havas/London, has long been vocal about the stigma around ageing – “Getting older, especially for women, is considered far from aspirational, which doesn’t bode well for those who don't have the money or inclination to undergo the level of plastic surgery required to freeze their faces and bodies in time. 

Ageing women overall are not a common topic of ad messaging.

“Sexism and ageism have been forever ingrained in our society and therefore we still face sniggering attitudes towards the menopause and symptoms like hot flushes and brain fog.” Maguire continues, “in a post-Roe world where we're seeing the erosion of women's rights, brands should be doing everything they can to stand up for and represent women.” 

Vicki Maguire, CCO Havas/London.

Though Libresse has led the charge in representing more honest visions of periods and general gynaecological issues, with the groundbreaking Blood Normal and Wombstories, there have been few ads focussing on menopause. 

AMV BBDO’s recent Tena campaign, #lastlonelymenopause, is the first sign of what Austin calls “a possible shift,” and is “at last an honest, heart-warming and relatable depiction of a woman going through menopause, although that is pretty much leading in a field of one.”

Tesco's Food Love campaign included Wild Swim, an upbeat portrayal of mature bathing beauties bonding over a dip.

Normoyle liked the Tesco Food Stories ad [above] showing swimming women: “Just seeing middle-aged (and probably menopausal) women doing joyful things is so refreshing.” 

In the US the over 50s make up more than a third of the population, but appear in just 15 per cent of media images, according to a 2019 report by AARP – an advocacy group for older people. And those images usually reinforce negative stereotypes. An update on the report in 2021 showed that 47 per cent of older people still felt ads showing the over 50s just reinforce unhelpful stereotypes.

Sexism and ageism have been forever ingrained in our society.

Maguire highlights how ageism in advertising can harm brands as well as culture. A major luxury jewellery brand’s clumsy attempt to court Gen Z is a case in point: “Tiffany’s recent marketing effort to appeal to younger audiences is enragingly ageist. The campaign denigrates older women, with the slogan ‘Not Your Mother’s Tiffany’ appearing alongside posters of edgy-looking young women – intimating that any woman over the age of 40 is past it. Needless to say, Tiffany’s core customer base of older women were not best pleased.” 

On the brand’s social feed the backlash included such comments as “As a mum and older woman you're saying you don't need me as a customer anymore”.

Tiffany's unfortunate efforts to lure younger consumers, repelled the brand's more mature customers.

Meakin feels that marketers need to be more aware of how they are talking to “a powerful bunch of consumers”. She says it would be helpful if middle-aged women were depicted “in all their diversity, as active agents in stories that are not even about their troubling midlife bodies.” 

Portrayals of older women replicate tropes... from ‘still sexy despite my years’ woman, to benevolent, cuddly grannies

Analysing the messaging in the recent Virgin Atlantic spot, See the World Differently, she says, “I personally find Virgin Atlantic's pilot way more exciting than the ‘surprising older woman with tongue-piercing’.” 

Virgin's spot See The World Differently, included a range of female high flyers.

So what is the root cause of this stigma? Is it that the fecund woman represents a symbol of life and, once the egg bank is empty, she’s a reminder of death – the ultimate taboo? 

Mostly we just disappear, because if we’re not sexy or nurturing, or behaving like a token bloke, what’s the point of us?

Our society has been dominated by images of female fertility – from the Upper Paleolithic Period to today’s social media visual landscape, rich with ripe images of curvy Kardashians and the like. 

Outwardly, women’s bodies – their front-facing milk sacks and all – have been relentlessly fetishised. While, inwardly – from puberty to peri-menopause – there is the painful, monthly bloody reminders of a woman’s supposed purpose on this planet. 

It’s hardly surprising that those beyond child-bearing age might suffer status anxiety. 

Female fecundity through the ages, from the Venus of Willendorf figurine, dated 28,000–25,000 BCE, to Kim Kardashian.

“The way we treat menopause reflects many deep-rooted gender assumptions that have dominated for centuries,” says Meakin, “there’s not much that’s seen to be sexy or attractive about older female bodies; nor about them feeling unwell in many different ways.”

“Portrayals of older women even replicate these tropes,” she add, “from ‘still sexy despite my years’ woman to benevolent, cuddly grannies. But mostly we just disappear, because if we’re not sexy or nurturing, or behaving like a token bloke, what’s the point of us?”

Mostly we just disappear, because if we’re not sexy or nurturing, or behaving like a token bloke, what’s the point of us?

The point is of course, the wisdom and experience that maturity brings – which is something worth investing in, on a brand and corporate level. 

The creative industries, says Austin, need to work harder to retain “middle-aged women at the top of their game. Proper menopause support in the workplace is a no-brainer – it improves retention, you’re keeping highly experienced, knowledgeable women in your business and therefore it’s going to improve diversity and help close your gender pay gap.” 

Normoyle agrees there are a host of reasons for businesses to strive to create “an age-inclusive culture” and reports how big names such as DFS, Boots, Volkswagen, Tui, Hill + Knowlton and Accenture, the NUJ and HSBC,” are leading the way in opening up conversation around menopause and ensuring that their staff are supported. 

Jane Austin, Founder of Persuasion Communications. Photo by Bronac McNeill.

Maguire says Havas introduced a menopause guide for staff and managers more than three years ago, while last year, Publicis Groupe launched a menopause policy and training programme, along with a powerful film, #breakthebias around menopause, made in collaboration with ProdigiousUK and VivaWomen. 

An alarming report by Menopause Experts Group, revealed that suicide rates amongst menopausal women are actually on the rise

The film illuminated the mental health struggles the menopause often brings, featuring testimonies from diverse voices. One, Max, a trans man whose hormone treatment brought on a sudden menopause says: “The metaphor I always use is you’re on a rollercoaster, it’s going up and down and you don’t really know what’s going next, you’re just holding on.” 

While Éimi, who suffered early menopause after surgery for ovarian cancer, felt she lost her identity: “There are a lot of menopausal women who get to the brink of suicide because the anxiety and depression are so bad – you don’t recognize who you’re looking at in the mirror anymore.” 

Publicis Groupe's moving film, #breakthebias around menopause, was released to mark International Women's Day last year. 

An alarming report last year by Menopause Experts Group, revealed that suicide rates amongst menopausal women are actually on the rise, having increased six per cent since 1996. 

So increasing awareness and support for this challenging transition can be a matter life-or-death matter. 

“It’s not that long ago that women were sent off to mental asylums when they were going through the menopause. There’s still that sense that menopause means mad and murderous. We can't even have our own word, the first three letters spell men,” Austin wryly observes. 

Is there any good news among this barren landscape of madness and sadness?

It’s not that long ago that women were sent off to mental asylums when they were going through the menopause.

Meakin is optimistic: “I’m inspired and liberated by some women’s “we’re not going to quietly put up with this shit” attitude that we see in everything from periods to body parts that are never spoken of (hello Bodyform’s Viva la Vulva and Canesten’s The Truth Undressed). The way women have stepped in to support each other as well as to fight the fall-out from Roe vs Wade is surely something we can all learn from.”

Campaigns around women's gynaecological health and physiology are steadily becoming bolder and more honest. 

The conversations are growing as more high-profile women speak up: medical experts like Dr Louise Newson; celebrities such as Davina McCall and Mariella Frostrup; MPs Carolyn Harris and Caroline Nokes; campaigner  Diane Danzebrink, who founded Menopause Support and the #MakeMenopauseMatter campaign, Deborah Garlick who established workplace menopause policies and training with Henpicked – Menopause in the Workplace. 

Maguire references the Acting Your Age campaign, established by Nicky Clark, which calls for equal representation on screen and in the UK film industry between men and women over 45. She is also encouraged by the fact that “high-profile workplaces, such as the House of Commons, finally signed up to the Menopause Workplace Pledge.”