Why Tackling Gender Inequality Still Matters

Every year, Women’s History Month offers us an opportunity to pause, take stock, and ask whose stories we have been exposed to and hence remember well, and whose stories have been allowed to drift quietly into the background and forgotten. For example, society tends to remember Darwin’s name instantly, but far fewer of us could name Nettie Maria Stevens, the geneticist who discovered the XY sex‑determination system. Working in medical education, I’m aware that the history of women’s health is not just a sequence of scientific breakthroughs (e.g. the kind of landmark developments often associated with IVF pioneers like Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy which was beautifully told in the 2024 Netflix biographical drama film “Joy”), but also a history of silences. You could easily argue that Purdy’s role was pivotal yet historically under‑recognised, which is a pattern familiar across women’s scientific contributions.

This pattern of women’s contributions being overlooked doesn’t just belong to scientific history, but it continues to shape how women’s health has been understood, researched, and valued. For generations, medicine was a discipline shaped largely without women’s voices. Research designs often excluded women, and the consequences of that absence are still felt today. In the UK, this gap is now being actively addressed through policy, guidance and workplace reforms. However, we are correcting centuries of underrepresentation, not decades.

Now, I fully acknowledge that this viewpoint is coloured by my own experience (being a woman) and is influenced by my own implicit biases. But as my interest in shining a light on the experiences of menopause has grown, particularly in relation to tackling gender‑based inequalities within the workplace, I thought it appropriate to explore this topic for Women’s History Month.

Menopause, in many ways, has become a modern-day example of this long‑standing pattern of silence and under‑recognition. Today, menopause is becoming part of mainstream conversation in a way that would have been unthinkable even a decade ago. When I began looking at menopause in the workplace in 2017, there was almost no organisational guidance available. That landscape looks very different now. UK employers are increasingly expected to provide workplace adjustments, supported by clear Government guidance outlining practical measures such as flexible working, access to private rest spaces, improved ventilation, or ergonomic equipment, all intended to help ease symptoms that may affect attendance or performance (Ref 1). This shift is reinforced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which in 2024 clarified that menopause can, in some cases, meet the legal definition of a disability under the Equality Act 2010 (Ref 2). This means that employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments and avoid discrimination linked to sex, age, or disability.

Alongside this, much work has gone into awareness campaigns that have encourage employer engagement, and reduced stigma, with a 2024 progress report highlighting both the advances made and the gaps that persist across workplaces (Ref 3). Yet the journey to get to this place where we can talk honestly and openly about women’s health, and the impact this has on our everyday life and working experience, has been shaped by centuries of misinterpretation, stigma, and gender inequality in research. In Wales, this momentum away from this inequality is being strengthened by the work of the Women’s Health Research Wales network, which is helping to place women’s health firmly on the Welsh policy agenda by enabling research, amplifying women’s experiences, and ensuring that issues such as menopause are considered through a Wales‑specific lens.

As we continue to make progress, Women’s History Month reminds us that meaningful change rarely happens overnight. It requires us not only to remember the women whose contributions have been overlooked, but also to examine how these patterns persist in the structures we work within today. Menopause is just one example of where silence has lingered for too long, but it is also an area where genuine momentum is building. By keeping these conversations alive, grounding our work in evidence, and ensuring that policies translate into everyday practice, we can create workplaces and learning environments where women’s health is not an afterthought but a valued, visible part of organisational wellbeing. Ultimately, tackling gender inequality still matters because it shapes the lives, opportunities, and dignity of women, and hence, benefits society as a whole.

Ref 1 – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/offer-workplace-adjustments-for-employees-experiencing-menopause/offer-workplace-adjustments-for-employees-experiencing-menopause

Ref 2 – https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre/news/regulator-provides-advice-employers-menopause-and-equality-act

Ref 3 – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/shattering-the-silence-about-menopause-12-month-progress-report/shattering-the-silence-about-menopause-12-month-progress-report