Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women in the UK, yet it remains under researched and underfunded, taking an average of eight years and 10 months to be diagnosed.
It’s a chronic illness, characterised by debilitating symptoms which include excessive pelvic pain and menstrual cramps, heavy periods, painful bowel movements, nausea and fatigue.
This means that many employed women are left with no choice but to go to work while in physical agony, often under the guise of being symptomless, or simply being able to ‘tough it out’.
For some, this expectation comes at a great cost, with new research finding a direct correlation between endometriosis sufferers and their ability to work and make money. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), women in England aged 25 to 54 who received an endometriosis diagnosis between April 2016 and December 2022, saw a considerable monthly decrease in their earnings.
Across all of the women who took part in the study (employed, self-employed and those not in paid employment), women's monthly pay decreased in the immediate three months following diagnosis, before returning to pre-diagnosis levels for up to 12 months. Within four to five years after diagnosis, income fell again, resulting in a £130 monthly reduction. For those in paid work, monthly earnings dipped on average from one to five years after endometriosis was confirmed, compared with the two years prior, meaning women received on average £56 less per month in the four to five years post-diagnosis. The probability of being a paid employee also fell significantly by 2.7% in the four to five years post-diagnosis, compared with the preceding two years.
Statistics like this paint a bleak picture of an archaic corporate culture in which menstrual health and its associated illnesses have been confined to taboo status in the workplace. It’s an inevitable consequence of a society that dictates we must manage the complexities of our cycles with the utmost discretion, therefore it’s no wonder that these attitudes are even more pointed in the working world. The way forward is clear — in order to establish fair and flexible allowances for women who need them, the stigma of menstrual health illness at work needs to be dismantled.
The Chief Research and Development Officer at Reckitt speaks to GLAMOUR about the gender pain gap.
Gabriella Pearson and Anna Cooper were determined to improve the work-life conditions of women incapacitated by menstrual disorders when they founded The Menstrual Health Project. Both women have been diagnosed with endometriosis, and now provide educational tools and training sessions to businesses and schools throughout the UK. “I had really bad experiences in workplaces whilst I was trying to get diagnosed,” says Gabriella. “The way I was treated, and I know so many other people are treated, isn’t okay.
“I found myself being pushed out [of jobs], so I would just leave. If I did go back to work I'd get so much anxiety because I wasn't being supported to come back. And when I was at work I'd get a lot of ridicule, not just from colleagues who were at the same level as me, but from management as well. I really struggled with it.”
Ginisha Vekaria is Workplace Menstrual Wellbeing Programme Manager at Endometriosis UK — a charity which launched its Endometriosis Friendly Employer scheme in 2019. She believes that improved recognition of the condition can go a long way towards ousting the type of toxic cultures that Gabriella had to navigate. “By raising awareness, employers can create an environment where women feel understood, supported, and comfortable addressing their needs. This could include flexibility in work hours, the option to work from home, or time off for medical appointments or flare-ups,” she says. “Awareness can also help reduce the stigma that often surrounds conditions like endometriosis, allowing women to speak up without fear of discrimination or judgment.”
The silver lining here is that women today are more vocal about their health issues than ever before. Diligent campaigning, unflinching honesty, and a relentless demand for more equitable workplaces means that there may just be hope for the future of menstrual health education at work. Sporadic virtue signalling isn’t the answer. In order to remedy the threat to earning potential and dwindling career prospects for women suffering with chronic menstrual illnesses, they need sincere, meaningful and long-lasting change.
“What we need to avoid is a tick box exercise where within Endometriosis Action Month, for example, there's one event or one Lunch and Learn, and then it's ticked off as education,” says endometriosis campaigner Jen Moore. “That's not enough to provide a true understanding of these issues, whether it's endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and so on. There needs to be a strategic and committed decision from workplaces to truly achieve the understanding and awareness needed to actually make a difference.”
Fertility has been put above my quality of life.
