The structuration of women’s menopause transition in the workplace: A cross-national study of France, Germany and Türkiye

Menopausal transition (MT) is often described in medical terms or treated as a private matter, but it also characterises women’s working lives. Drawing on Giddens’ structuration theory, this cross-cultural study explores how institutional and cultural structures influence women’s agency and how women’s everyday practices reproduce and, at times, reshape these structures in the workplace during MT. Based on 51 semi-structured interviews with working women in France, Germany and Türkiye, we explore how women negotiate the experience of menopause in the context of the workplace amidst physical, emotional and cultural challenges. The findings reveal similarities between the contexts: in all three countries, women reported that formal support through workplace policies and healthcare was limited, and even when formal workplace structures were in place, cultural taboos often made it difficult to talk openly about menopause. Women described their MT mostly as positive and described that they sought support through informal networks, e.g. talked to trusted colleagues, adapted their work routines and developed personal coping strategies. Nevertheless, there were nuanced national differences in women’s interpretation of MT: French participants often associated it with loss of femininity, Turkish participants with loss of fertility and German participants with declining productivity, indicating the importance of recognising menopause as both a public and professional issue, as this framing can influence how women experience and shape their working lives.