Best Practice

Women of a certain age: The menopause at school

Staff wellbeing
The menopause is a specific challenge facing women, with particular challenges for those working in schools. Headteacher Sarah Wordlaw considers how we can support our colleagues
Under the radar: For 44% of women, their ability to work has been affected by the menopause, while 1 in 10 have left work due to menopause symptoms - Adobe Stock

Developing an anti-misogynist culture in your school starts from the top. There must be a commitment from leadership at all levels, and it must be threaded throughout all school practices and policies.

However, women remain under-represented within school leadership (Bergmann et al, 2022). In England, the school leadership characteristics report (DfE, 2022) reveals that at primary level, 85% of primary teachers are female compared with 74% of headteachers.

It makes me wonder whether the reason that we don’t talk about the menopause as much as we should is because senior leadership teams can often be male-dominated.

Traditionally, notions of leadership are connected to perceptions of masculinity – having “strength” or “gravitas”. In reality, being a successful school leader requires someone who is both strong and vulnerable, someone who is driven and compassionate, someone who is commanding and empathetic.

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