Publicis Groupe #BreakTheBias surrounding the menopause

A moving new film brings to life the personal cost of the silence which still surrounds menopause in the workplace.

Nicola Kemp

Editorial Director Creativebrief

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“There are a lot of menopausal women that get really to the brink of suicide sometimes, because your anxiety and depression are so bad you just don’t recognise who you are looking at in the mirror anymore.”

This is the highly personal and moving story told with grace and grit in a film created by Prodigious, with the support of Publicis Groupe’s Viva Women, an employee group which aims to empower women across the organisation. 

The film features a series of highly personal experiences of the Menopause and raises awareness of the impacts of menopause on mental and physical wellbeing. It cites research showing that 90% of women don’t feel supported in their workplace and powerfully underlines the damaging support gap in the workplace when it comes to Menopause.

Crucially this is not just a film that is about raising awareness in isolation; Publicis Groupe launched a menopause policy and training programme across the Groupe last year. At the time Katie Edwards, Managing Partner at Publicis•Poke, wrote powerfully about why the creative industries, along with others, urgently need to address the deafening silence around the menopause.

As she explained: “There remains a taboo around the menopause in the workplace despite the fact it’ll affect every woman at some point in their lives. And this matters a lot as the menopause is an experience that leads to three out of five working women saying it has a negative impact on them at work, according to the CIPD.”

As the film powerfully underlines the creative industries is uniquely placed to puncture the deafening silence around the menopause. Through bringing personal stories to life with empathy this film shows the importance of all of us being allies to our colleagues experiencing the menopause.