Should women have time off work for menopausal symptoms?

Companies will be required to grant women ‘menopause leave’ and flexible working hours if Jeremy Corbyn wins power, Labour has announced.

They say that it would make larger companies introduce ‘menopause-friendly’ policies, including flexible working hours for women and better education for managers.

Three in five women between the ages of 45 and 55 say the menopause had a negative impact on them at work, according to Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development research.

This topic was also debated today on Good Morning Britain (GMB) with Michelle Heaton (The Liberty X star, 39,) who claimed menopausal women should be given time off work to deal with their symptoms. She appeared alongside journalist Eve Pollard, 73, who suggested the move could lead to more discrimination against women in the workplace.

‘Women were discriminated against getting jobs when they were fertile, it’s the same thing. It’s about fertility. And it’s about what our bodies are producing.’ said Eve Pollard

Former newspaper editor Eve, who is Claudia Winkleman’s mother, suggested that pregnancy leave is easier to account for because you know how long it lasts, while menopause symptoms can continue for years.

Some women don’t suffer at all, some suffer a lot. So who would determine how much time off is needed?

Both ladies agreed that it is a very positive move that this previously taboo topic is now being openly discussed.

What are your views?  Should menopausal women be discriminated against? Should women just ‘get on with it’, as previous generations of women have done or is now the time to have a rethink? As it’s a medical condition that women go through should allowances be made?