The Evolution of Menopause Awareness: Reflecting on National Menopause Awareness Month

For a significant health event that affects approximately half of the population, menopause can still be shrouded in secrecy, privacy, and, at times, confusion. Thankfully, the awareness of menopause continues to evolve, with more light being shed on what menopause is, how it can affect women, and how we can build better support structures for this significant life change. 

However, with a long history of misunderstanding, misinformation and a lack of public discourse surrounding menopause, more work remains when it comes to empowering women around the globe with access to high-quality information and treatment pathways. That’s why next month’s National Menopause Awareness Month status is so crucial for all of us – by placing menopause front and centre, we can contribute to better menopausal healthcare outcomes for ourselves and for the women we love. 

In preparation, we’re taking a look at the history of menopause awareness, including where we can each contribute to a healthier menopause discourse that’s beneficial for us all.

 

Early historical mentions of menopause

There are significant gaps in our historical menopause context, although Aristotle’s 4th century B.C. indication of menopause’s 40 to 50-year-old mean age is one of the earliest historical references we have. 

In the sixth century A.D., Greek Byzantine Physician Paulus Aegineta also supported Aristotle’s understanding of the average age when menopause takes place. Jumping to the eleventh century, Hildegard of Bingen’s medical book Causes and Cures writes of periods finishing from the fiftieth year, but sometimes lasting until a woman’s 60s. 

Of course, with average life expectancies much lower during early human history, many women didn’t live long enough to reach menopause. Societal norms that placed women’s health and ‘issues’ as secondary to those of men throughout the ages also have contributed to a significant lack in both medical research and cultural conversation. 

It’s only when we reach the 19th and 20th centuries that menopause becomes more systematically studied within the medical community, with centuries of slow progress beforehand. 

 

The medicalisation of menopause

In the 19th century, we reached a key turning point in how menopause is discussed, considered, researched, and treated: menopause becomes medicalised. With growing scientific studies in the area of menopause, during this time, it was often treated as a medical condition requiring a ‘cure’. 

The ingrained gender roles found throughout Victorian society meant that menopause could result in the social invisibility of women, with the end of their reproductive ages marking the end of their ‘usefulness’. With menopause symptoms often misdiagnosed as ‘hysteria’, a wide-ranging term that was used to describe all manner of psychological and physical symptoms in women, society’s discomfort with acknowledging female ageing processes and sexual health concerns remained at the forefront of menopause’s cultural context. 

 

Advancements in the 20th century

Thankfully, the early 20th century brought welcome and necessary changes to how menopause was perceived and treated. With the development of hormone replacement therapy as a treatment for menopausal symptoms in the 1930s, after scientists started to understand how oestrogen impacted the female reproductive system, pathways to medical treatment were finally opening up for those in the midst of menopause. Unfortunately, with the introduction of these treatment pathways came a reinforcement of the belief that menopause needed ‘fixing’. Hormone replacement therapy was viewed as a pathway back to youth, beauty, and desirability, with women encouraged to fight to maintain their youthfulness at all costs. 

 

Find dedicated support for your menopausal health at the Australian Menopause Centre.

 

The 1960s and 1970s: Women’s health at the forefront

In the 1960s and 1970s, key feminist activists paved the way for the holistic approach to women’s healthcare that so many of us rely on today. As larger cultural changes took place about the role of women in society, women’s health issues rose to the forefront. Advocates fought for greater control over women’s bodies, higher quality healthcare, and reproductive rights.

It’s in this era that the medical practices which treated menopause like a disease or a reversible condition were fought. Through the work of activists and healthcare allies, menopause became rightfully recognised as a natural ageing process. 

‘For women… change started with the radical notion that they had a right to know about their own bodies, had a right to control their own health care and belonged in medical schools where they could fully participate in health care decisions that have such significance in their lives,’ writes Laurie Edwards in In the Kingdom of the Sick. ‘Women’s health activists shared the same type of vision for female patients, and the conversations surrounding it were possible, if not essential, for the doctor-patient relationship and women’s health turned thoughts into actions.’ Pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive health, and menopause – the activists of this era laid a significant foundation for the medical access women rightfully deserve and benefit from today.

 

Menopause awareness in the 21st century

As we’ve continued to move forward, so, too, has our collective understanding of the process and impact of menopause. This National Menopause Awareness month is an opportunity for us to work together to further this understanding, making sure that every woman in Australia has access to the quality of medical care and menopause education she deserves during this complex ageing process. 

We’re grateful to be working in menopause healthcare at a time when menopause is rightly viewed as a natural and empowering life stage. However, many of our patients still struggle with much of the secrecy that can shroud menopause, even with decades of cultural improvement and awareness behind us. By working to undo this secrecy and empower our clients, we’re able to contribute to more positive menopause experiences, higher quality menopause healthcare, and a revised focus from menopause as ‘the end’ to menopause as an empowered opportunity for a new beginning. 

 

Conclusion 

This National Menopause Awareness Month, we’re grateful to the generations of women, medical practitioners, and scientists who have gone before to build the foundations of our modern menopause care system. With more work to do, however, it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the goal: the highest quality of menopause healthcare and lifestyle support for every Australian woman, and for our fellow women around the world. This month, we encourage you to have conversations with your friends and family members about your own menopause experience, as well as reaching out to the healthcare team you deserve. 

Learn more about how we can stand with you throughout every menopause experience at the Australian Menopause Centre. We’re always in your corner.