Ms BURNET (Clark) – Honourable Speaker, last week, Minister Barnett and I co‑sponsored a forum here at Parliament House on the topic of menopause. I would like to thank the minister and those members and staff who attended. These included, among others, minister Ogilvie and Cecily Rosol, who both hold portfolios for women. Also attending was Deputy Lord Mayor and councillor Zelinda Sherlock, who recently introduced a motion for Hobart City Council to become a menopause and perimenopause friendly workplace.
Peta Titter, CEO of the Women’s Health Education Network, presented to the forum on why we need to recognise the impacts of menopause. She also raised the issue of lost productivity in the workplace.
Tonight, I would like to talk about the need for better understanding of menopause and perimenopause, the impacts on women and lost workforce productivity. There is ongoing stigma about the topic of menopause. This means that GPs are often under‑educated on the topic. Just 21 doctors in Tasmania registered with the Menopause Society of Australia. Of those, five are in the north and just one is in the north‑west.
For about 108,000 Tasmanian women in the age group affected by menopause and perimenopause, there are just seven specialists available for new patients. The pernicious idea that menopause is defined by hot flushes means misdiagnosis when unreliable blood testing of hormone levels is used. We learnt that the only way to reliably diagnose menopause is via reporting and monitoring of symptoms.
Menopause sees hormonal level changes responsible for a range of symptoms. That might include hot flushes, night sweats, weight gain, anxiety and depression – neurological and mental health impacts are often overlooked. Brain fog, cognitive issues, sleep disorders and dysregulated moods all compound the challenges and often lead to difficulties both at work and at home.
At the forum, we heard from a woman with a public service career before becoming the CEO of a health peak body here in Tasmania. Despite being health literate and financially secure, she faced hurdles in seeking treatment for her menopause symptoms, and spent over $10,000 over three years trying to treat something she was not able to fully understand nor was easily diagnosed by a number of different health professionals.
Menopause costs women across Australia an estimated $15 billion in annual earnings and superannuation, and often means that women leave their employment earlier to manage symptoms. Almost 50 per cent of the Tasmanian workforce are women, and the careers of thousands of Australian women are affected by menopause.
If the symptoms of menopause in women in professions such as nursing were reduced, then there would be fewer women leaving their jobs early, reducing their hours and or not continuing their professional careers. Just think of the possible positive outcome for the health profession which needs to retain staff, not lose them prematurely.
Australian workforce productivity is an obvious casualty, and the Greens in federal parliament established an inquiry as to the impacts of menopause and perimenopause on women and the economy. It is due to report back later this year.
Women are suffering unnecessarily. Menopausal women have the highest rate of divorce in the country and the highest rate of suicide among women. It is Homelessness Week and homelessness among women over 50 is skyrocketing. The detrimental impacts of menopause should not be adding to the length of housing waitlists.
I am grateful to the minister, Mr Barnett, for co-sponsoring the event because until we get this on the agenda, nothing will change. There is an opportunity here for Tasmania to take the lead. If we take a preventative approach to menopause, increase education for GPs and perhaps use different care models in primary health, we can improve workforce equality and productivity, lighten the load on our stretched health system and reduce the impact of menopause for women across Tasmania.
