It felt like a breath of fresh air when Naomi Watts publicly shared her journey of unexpected early menopause. “This makes no sense,” she said. “We’re half the population. Everybody’s going to go into menopause… why shouldn’t we be talking about it?”

It was an important step in opening up a conversation, but if a group of rich and famous celebrities are experiencing shame, stigma and a fear of being unhireable as a result of menopause, what hope is there for ordinary working women?

A recent survey study of 2,000 women found that nearly half of women (48%) experiencing menopause believe they’re seen as less productive and emotionally stable at work. Additionally, 42% reported their menopausal symptoms have impacted their ambition at work and 49% say their job performance has been affected.

And it seems women are suffering alone. A shocking 76% said they have no work accommodations for menopause. Looming over the quiet way in which women at work are experiencing menopause is a heavy sense of taboo, shame and silence. It’s called the menopause stigma.

Another new report on menopause in the workplace by HR consultancy Hoomph found that 15% of women have considered quitting their jobs due to menopausal symptoms at work, particularly in stressful sectors like tech and healthcare, and an alarming 70% of menopausal women surveyed feel unsupported by their employers during this critical life phase.

There’s no denying that menopause plays a crucial role in how women show up at work, and there’s still a lot of work to be done for it to be normalised in the workplace.

Women are quitting their jobs due to menopause – here’s what workplaces can do about it