On today’s Food for Thought podcast, I’m with Kathryn Colas who is a hugely respected voice for women going through the menopause.
She’s the founder and chief executive of Simply Hormones, and is recognised for her work with public and private sector organisations in improving understanding of menopausal symptoms. Her aim is to empower women with better information and influence policy and practices to improve their daily lives.
Kathryn became the first and only layperson to be appointed to the medical advisory committee of the British Menopause Society – a post she has held since 2013. She is also a member of the executive committee for Wishes – Action and Support for Invisible Illness.
In this interview, we discuss the programme she has designed to aid women going through menopause in the workplace and their line managers. Currently, there is no training for line managers to deal with this issue, which is very clearly at times affecting women’s work performance. We discuss the gender bias still in the workplace, and the policies that she is helping write to help address the disparity in information.
Kathryn helps us to see there is a large and growing education gap not only for those in the workplace but also about how the female body works and how it changes over a lifetime. What is understood by a medical professional is often not passed on to a woman, leaving them not understanding that their health issues could be hormone related.
