A bloody mess? UK regulation of menopause discrimination and the need for reform

Abstract

This article considers the regulation of menopause-related discrimination in the workplace. Many menopausal women experience profound workplace inequalities, often connected with the intersection of ageism and sexism. The United Kingdom Parliament's Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) recently recommended that the government consult about a new protected characteristic, ‘menopause’, and that Section 14 of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA) on dual discrimination be brought into force. The government has rejected these recommendations, asserting that menopausal women are sufficiently protected under the EqA's existing provision. This article presents an alternative perspective, arguing that there is insufficient legal protection from menopause discrimination, with it fitting poorly within age, sex, and/or disability discrimination, and there being no facility for intersectional claims. The WEC is correct: Section 14 should be implemented, ‘menopause’ should be a protected characteristic, and, beyond that, the EqA needs wider reform to provide greater protections from discrimination, beyond inflexible identity categories that fail to allow for complex intersecting structural oppressions.