Dr Clare Edge
19th November 2025
After World Menopause Month in October 2025, I’ve found myself reflecting on how several strands of work I’ve had the privilege to lead coming together during this month and I’m genuinely excited about the momentum building. There’s been a lot of progress in this space here in UK, and globally, but firstly I’m so delighted about the work more locally to begin with this year having had the opportunity work alongside our very own University of Salford Colleague Wellbeing lead and the Women’s Voice Café who are really driving change here in our own institution, but the findings from our WOW@Work_GM policy project continue to highlight just how much more needs to be done to support ageing women in the workplace in Greater Manchester. We are featuring this work in the Festival of Social Sciences with a focus on the menopause- we have a series of bitesize videos (one in collaboration with Caribbean and African Health Network) launched on World Menopause Day as well as a Policy Brief on 23rd October.
This is about workplace culture change ‘fix the workplace not the woman!’ is our project’s mantra, but that culture also reflects within us – our own perceptions of what work should look like (e.g. looking beyond a 9am-5pm and creating a culture that supports women to work flexibly) and our value in the workplace as we age (e.g. recognising how ‘older’ women add mountains of value and vibrancy), what we think others think of us (e.g. often influencing if we go for that promotion or not) and how we treat ourselves (e.g. enabling a culture of switching off from work) to ensure we can live and work and be well for our optimum time avoiding burnout.
I am reading a book in my spare time that was given to me as a Christmas present called ‘The Longevity Imperative: Building a Better Society for Healthier, Longer Lives’ by Andrew J. Scott – this may give you a clue about what drives me and yes, I do sometimes get on my soap box about this outside of work (sorry!). The author is an economist, and he talks about we need to become an ‘evergreen society’ where we embrace our vibrancy for longer in life. This starts with not only workplaces recognising the need to support our wellbeing and for us to work for longer we need to stay healthier in good work for longer, but also a massive culture shift on how we think about work. Here this requires us ‘workers’ thinking about ourselves and how we age in a more positive way.
Our research highlighted a disconnect whereby 88% of women felt that their current work ability was at least moderate (can work but not at best level) to lifetime best (full capacity and ability). However, when asked about their future work ability ‘Do you believe your work ability will decrease in the next two years? 57% answered ‘yes’.
What drives my passion for this work is a deep hope: that by bringing together research, policy, and lived experience, we can galvanise collective action that will benefit everyone. I want to see women- like me! – and our male and gender diverse allies come together to think about our ageing bodies not as a decline, but as an evolution. A great space for WOW@Work was created on in June 2025 at our Roundtable event. The energy on the day and discussion was powerful. There’s power in reframing our experiences and tackling the hurdles with agency as Prof. Alicia Grandey (2025) (who I had the privilege of attending her amazing keynote lecture for the European Workplace and Organisational Psychology Conference in Prague in May 2025) provides emerging evidence of. Doing so might help us avoid the well-documented pitfalls of workplace stigma and self-stereotyping and instead experience this life stage in a less disruptive, more empowering workplace culture.
I also lead work on a more global level. Chairing a network of researchers WOW-EN (Wellbeing of ageingWomen@Work: the European Network) that represent over 130 researchers and stakeholder across over 25 countries we’ve conducted cross-national research with women Professors over 50, a systematic review and have plans for much more (watch this space!). Research shows that lifetime stress exposure disproportionately affects older women’s cognitive and psychiatric wellbeing (Miller et al., 2022). These effects are compounded during the menopausal transition, which typically begins around age 40 and can significantly impact workability, productivity, and retention.
In fact, women aged 50–65 currently demonstrate the highest levels of sickness absence in the UK workforce (ONS, 2022), often linked to unmanaged menopausal symptoms. These symptoms- including fatigue, anxiety, cognitive difficulties, and vasomotor issues- can deeply affect professional life for some time. While some women experience minimal disruption, a substantial proportion report challenges that interfere with their ability to thrive at work.
The ‘Take home’ Message…
What’s important here is it’s how we frame age and wellbeing impacts through these transitions. That is- internalised ageism by either comparing older/younger with youth and vibrancy tied together, or, a better approach, tying say for example: age, wisdom, determination, power and vibrancy together!
We know the more positively we view ageing and, more importantly, workplaces view ageing and support women through these transitions, the better our wellbeing tends to be.
Our workplace identities are shaped by a lifetime of experiences -menstruation, maternity, motherhood, caregiving, all of which intersect with other social identities like ethnicity, socio-economic status, disability, and sexual orientation. These intersections influence how women experience ageing and work, and they must be acknowledged in any meaningful wellbeing strategy. More importantly these must be heard, understood and acted upon.
WOW@Work_GM Project Outputs:
Dr Clare Edge is Community Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Psychology with a background in advocacy on a community, national and international basis. Her main interests are social, community and health psychology. She leads a (Wellbeing of ageing Women@Work) network of researchers and stakeholders driving to share knowledge and make improvements to policy and practice with a focus on women in work across the life-course as they age.
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