Women's Health & Intersectionality in the Workplace: Beating Discrimination

If every employee feels valued and respected as a unique individual, supported at all levels, and their contribution to the organisation is recognised, they feel happier, healthier, and safer. Not only this, but they become a better team-player as well as being more productive, innovative and creative. 

However, for a huge number of individuals, this is sadly not the case. They struggle with racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism or other types of discrimination that have a significant impact on their lives.  

Intersectionality, the topic of this article, plays a key role in levelling the playing field and helps promote a more diverse and inclusive work environment for all. 

This can be especially beneficial for those from marginalised groups, including menstruating or menopausal women, who often find that their symptoms flare up when they’re also faced with this type of psychological distress. 

In this article, I’d like to explain exactly what the word ‘intersectionality’ means, how workplace discrimination can affect our workplace performance and wellbeing and what both individuals and organisations can do to promote a more inclusive and diverse work environment. 

What is intersectionality?

‘Intersectionality’ is a word coined by Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 to highlight how characteristics like race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion and disability can affect marginalised groups or individuals in multiple aspects of their lives, including in their leisure time and the workplace. 

This word serves as a powerful reminder that not everyone enjoys the same amount of freedom, privilege or acceptance in their lives.

But not only this- the word ‘intersectionality’ helps us to better understand that each person experiences the world differently and is often treated differently, simply because of who they are. 

We only have to look at the current UK gender pay gap to see that this happens every single day across the country. According to an April 2023 article in the Guardian, “Four out of five companies and organisations in Great Britain still pay their male employees more than female ones” simply because they are female.

Another example is the fact that women also face numerous challenges when it comes to navigating menstruation, or the perimenopause/menopause transition in the workplace. 

They often don’t get the support they need, can be ridiculed or bullied, misunderstood or judged, struggle with their symptoms and often end up traumatised by the experience and often leave work altogether.  

The incredibly long-lasting impact of trauma on physical health

What many individuals and employers don’t realise is that, whenever we are discriminated against, we can experience deep trauma that we then carry with us throughout our lives and have a severe, chronic effect on our psychological and even physical health. 

Let’s say, for example, that Karen experienced racism when she was attending primary school. Perhaps a child in the playground made a comment that left her feeling judged, attacked and isolated from the others there. 

When this happened, the stress was too much for her to handle so her body prevented her from truly processing what happened. These difficult emotions were then stored in the memory and emotional centres in her brain (such as the hippocampus and amygdala) and will likely remain there throughout her life. 

If Sonia then grows up and experiences a similar incident at work, this old trauma will become reactivated and can have a significant impact on our overall health and wellbeing. It doesn’t matter when the traumatic event occurred or how old we were, it still has the same effect on our bodies and minds. 

Recent research from Harvard University has demonstrated that this mind-body connection can even be witnessed in a lab setting. Surprisingly, researchers discovered that unresolved trauma is the most overlooked cause of physical health problems like obesity, hair loss, diabetes, weight gain, hormonal issues, chronic pain, sleep issues, autoimmune disease, mood disorders and many more besides. 

Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed the same throughout my career, especially when it comes to women in their perimenopause or menopause transition. The hormonal fluctuations and both physical and psychological challenges mean that often, any unresolved trauma can resurface and cause additional symptoms when a woman is already struggling. 

Clearly, the effects of discrimination and trauma are topics that we simply don’t have space to discuss here. However, one element remains crystal clear. If we want to get the best from our female (and male) employees and foster a more diverse and inclusive workplace, we must consider intersectionality and provide employees with everything they need to feel supported and respected for being the beautifully unique individuals that they are. 

What can women do to ease their symptoms and deal with discrimination? 

Before we move on to what you can do as an employer to acknowledge intersectionality, address discrimination and create an inclusive, diverse and supportive work environment, I’d like to share a few tips on how female employees can help themselves to feel better and deal with any unresolved trauma.

This includes addressing past traumas such as racial discrimination, workplace bullying or bias about menopause from healthcare providers, adopting healthy nutrition and lifestyle choices and using my SMART formaula, they can achieve a powerful transformation and healing on multiple levels.

What can employers do to implement intersectionality in the workplace?

Employers can take steps to implement intersectionality in the workplace and create a more diverse and inclusive environment in many easy ways. This starts by acknowledging the different identities of your employees, their experiences and how this impacts their work life. By doing so, you won’t only help support your employees to feel and perform at their best, but you’ll also boost company loyalty, motivation, and productivity and enhance your company culture. 

Here are the steps I recommend you take: 

1. Pause and think. Take a moment to consider any approaches you’ve already implemented for addressing intersectionality in menstruation health and menopause. Did they work? What was employee feedback like? How would you make improvements? 

2. Ask your employees. Provide your employees with a survey that focuses on their experiences and challenges relating to menstruation and menopause in the workplace. This will give you excellent insight into how you can make improvements or create new solutions. 

3. Provide resources and training. Ensure your employees can access educational materials, articles and webinars that focus on intersectionality and menopause so they can navigate this phase more effectively.

4. Raise awareness. Host workshops or training sessions to educate your leaders and HR professionals about intersectionality and menopause so they can understand the unique challenges that women from discriminated groups face and how past traumas can affect their health and, in turn, their workplace performance. 

5. Think outside the box.

Leveraging awareness wellness days and months such as Sickle Cell Anaemia and Fibroids Day, Black History Month, and Diwali is a great way to discuss health issues that particularly impact those women and their unique journey and representation matters. You can’t be what you can't see. 

Summary

By implementing an intersectional approach, you can create a diverse and inclusive workplace environment that supports its employees, prioritises their wellbeing and benefits your organisation too. 

Together, we can continue to promote diversity, inclusion and equality in the workplace. 

Need help implementing intersectionality in the workplace?

Want to better support your female employees through menstruation, perimenopause and menopause?

Have you considered leveraging Black History Month to support those women of colour in your organisation?

Get in touch with me for a free 30-minute chat and find out how I can elevate women’s health in inclusive and diverse 2023  International Menopause Day.