Mind the gap: How menopause affects women disproportionately

Many factors come into play when women enter menopause, making each experience unique. Helen Normoyle, co-founder of My Menopause Centre, tells FemTech World why we need a more nuanced understanding of the menopausal transition. 

From the average duration of menopause-related hot flashes to gastrointestinal and vaginal issues, menopause affects women differently.

Recent studies from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) have found that women of colour tend to enter perimenopause and menopause at earlier ages than their white peers, have longer transition periods and experience more intense symptoms.

“Raising awareness of menopause across different communities is extremely important,” says Helen Normoyle, co-founder of My Menopause Centre, a website and online menopause clinic.

“We need to be conscious of barriers to diversity and inclusion because changing the mentality around what menopause is and what it is not requires a more nuanced understanding of how cultural differences can shape the way a woman experiences and describes her symptoms.”

My Menopause Centre, led by Dr Clare Spencer, a registered menopause specialist and GP, provides evidence-based and personalised menopause support to women across the UK regardless of their age, health, ethnicity, sexuality or economic background.

The website offers a free online questionnaire that helps women determine whether they are menopausal or perimenopausal and collects information to minimise the existing data gap. The more women complete it, the more they will contribute to the collective understanding of how the menopause is experienced.

“We invested in the questionnaire so that women could use it and get a free personalised assessment,” Normoyle tells me. “We use an algorithm based on all of the thinking that a doctor would use to determine whether or not a woman is in a particular stage of the menopause transition. It doesn’t matter what your friend or your mom did. Every woman’s experience is different.”

The questionnaire is meant to give women more clarity over their symptoms and the support they need and it was inspired by Helen’s personal experience with menopause.

“I was very reluctant to speak about what I was going through,” she remembers. “So, when I decided to talk about it with Claire, who was training to become a menopause specialist, I had a lot of questions.

“After we had a chat, I thought maybe we could bottle up that knowledge and share it with all women because something that happens to every woman isn’t known by every woman. So, we designed the questionnaire to help women better understand the menopausal symptoms and find solutions,” she explains.

“We take a very holistic approach. We look at lifestyle, nutrition, exercise, as well as alternative treatments to HRT, coaching and counselling, but the real driver for it is to help those who can’t afford a private appointment.”

Normoyle and Dr Clare Spencer launched My Menopause Centre in May 2021 and so far more than 15,000 people have filled out the questionnaire. The founders are to meet with MP Carolyn Harris to discuss the findings and inform the government’s current UK Menopause Task Force, to help close the gender data gap and improve the support provided to women.

Menopause is a diversity issue, says Normoyle. “We campaigned on a number of fronts to raise awareness of the impact of menopause and what needs to be done and we submitted evidence into the Department of Health.

“Our findings have shown that the health and data gap is more acute for women of colour and also HRT take-up is significantly lower,” the co-founder continues. “Nobody really understands the reasons behind these differences, but we want to be a key driver in the movement of using evidence and information to close that data gap.”

In March, Channel 4 and My Menopause Centre came together to host a special 4Talks session to discuss the importance of intersectionality when tackling the menopause within the workplace and wider advertising industry, as well as the need to raise awareness of the menopause, treatment options with black and brown women.

“We are very proud of what we’ve done so far,” says Normoyle. “We get patient feedback on a regular basis and when we see the Google reviews coming in, it’s really motivating. That’s the fuel that keeps us going.

“I really hope that with our website and all of our free resources, we can play a role in helping and empowering women to find evidence-based information and advice so that they can take control of their symptoms.”

The clinic is also offering support services to businesses including Tui, VW, Boots, DFS, Hill + Knowlton, Accenture, HSBC, British Airways and Volkswagen, both training staff in menopause awareness and helping menopausal employees.

Normoyle believes that families, societies and companies will all be a better place by having women fully at their best.

“I am fully convinced that by supporting women at this stage of life, we can make the world a better place,” she says. “Menopause shouldn’t be something younger women dread and fear. Knowledge is power and the more prepared you are, the better your experience of menopause will be. I hope we can play a part in reframing that narrative.”

For more information, visit mymenopausecentre.com.