FROM OUR PARTNER: WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY
Supporting women in the workplace Rethinking menstrual health at work By LINDA MUSIC
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or many women, period pain is just something to “get on with.” It’s pain that’s endured quietly, masked by painkillers and a brave face — in the classroom, at the office, during important meetings or life-defining exams. But what if we stopped treating menstrual pain as a minor inconvenience and started recognising it for what it often is: a serious health issue that can disrupt education, reduce workplace productivity, and unfairly limit opportunities? This is exactly what Associate Professor Mike Armour and his team at Western Sydney University have been investigating.
Menstrual pain is more than pain Despite how common menstrual conditions are, they’re still frequently dismissed or poorly managed, especially in professional settings.
Associate Professor, Mike Armour, at NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University (WSU) says it’s not just about pain. Many young women experience a range of debilitating symptoms, from fatigue and nausea to headaches and digestive issues. And while medication and heat packs might help some, a significant number find little relief, pushing through work or school days while functioning far below their best. “We often really focus on the pain aspect but even with primary dysmenorrhea, you can have severe fatigue, headaches, bloating, nausea, and diarrhoea. And so even if we are able to reduce the pain, sometimes the other symptoms are still really problematic,” explains A/Prof Armour. These symptoms can have a cascading effect, not just on an individual’s well-being, but on their performance and future opportunities. He points out how period pain,
especially in younger women, can interfere with exams that ultimately shape their career paths, and yet very few accommodations exist. “If you have really bad period pain and I don’t, you’re disadvantaged despite the fact that you’ve done nothing wrong. You might have studied harder than me, and yet we don’t really accommodate people very well.” Part of the issue lies in the workplace itself, a space, A/Prof Armour says, still largely built for the “ideal worker.” “’The ideal worker’ is basically a man. Someone who comes into the workplace, is there for the allotted hours, and really has nothing that’s going to affect their ability to work or take them away from work.” But this ideal rarely fits the reality of women’s lives, especially when factoring in menstrual and reproductive health, caregiving In-SPHERE
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