The chair of the Women and Equalities Committee has been leading an inquiry into analysing the extent to which menopausal women experience discrimination in the workplace. Some menopausal women who responded to the inquiry have expressed they do not feel the Equality Act 2010 (the “Act”) protects their legal interests, since the vagueness in the legislation leads to many claims for disability discrimination, rather than discrimination based on their menopausal symptoms.
When the inquiry finishes, if it appears that the Act is not doing enough to protect menopausal women from suffering workplace discrimination, the chair of the Committee has stated they may propose that the Act be changed to include menopause as a protected characteristic.
