The Australian Senate’s Standing Committee on Community Affairs has accepted AAWAA’s submission into the senate’s inquiry into issues related to menopause and perimenopause.
We know that symptoms of menopause and the menopause transition can impact significantly a woman’s personal life as well her work, but sadly, this knowledge is not translating into a broader change in attitudes, increased awareness, or increased availability of treatments and services for women in the menopause. Many women do not realise they are going through the menopause transition and instead attribute symptoms to other ‘life’ factors — indeed, many women who think they have not been impacted by menopausal symptoms often, upon reflection, come to understand that their aches and pains, weight gain, headaches, anxiety, exhaustion, forgetfulness, mood swings, depression, and even itchy skin were, in fact, symptoms of menopause.
In relation to accessing treatment, our submission presents what we ourselves have learnt in relation to our own health needs: it is not a result of any public health initiative that, for example, dispels the myths that menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) causes breast cancer (promulgated by the media and based on flawed research), or necessarily as a result of consultation with our GPs. We also point to the broader social policy interventions that are desperately needed for vulnerable women of menopausal age.
Read our full submission, below.
Affiliation of Australian Women's Action Alliances 