Hello and welcome. It's Catherine Colas here from simply hormones and it's such a pleasure to be here with the women in tech with this amazing conference. I can't tell you how glad I am to be here. Um So let's start with my slide deck.Um It might surprise you to learn that there will be over a billion women going through menopause by 2025. How do I know that? Well, actually, I don't know the whole picture. It's bigger than that because this is a stat from the who the world Health organization who are telling me that, um, that these were, this is the over fifties. So if they're over 50 if they're 50 above, I know they're going through menopause because that's just a fact of life and it's just brilliant to have just this little bit of information because it, there is not enough information about women going through menopause. Um There are so many subjects on the schedule of the uh women in tech business, uh women in tech conference that are you surprised to see that I'm here talking about menopause. I bet some of you are because you're thinking that's not for us. That's old women shortly. Surely. But here we are nearly a billion women going through menopause. And that's a hard number to swallow, isn't it? So, feel free to post questions. I'd be happy to answer at the end of this. And, uh, let's now continue with my own story.

Uh I went through all these things. I was, I had no idea that I was going through perimenopause. I resigned from my job. I was diagnosed with depression. I self diagnosed with bipolar. What's that all about? It's crazy, isn't it? But at the heart of it, I didn't know anything about menopause and I'm sure there's a large number of women across the world who are experiencing the same thing. And why is that? Because we're still not talking about menopause crazy but true. And we've reached this stage in our lives. Women have significant and different issues because they have a reproductive system and we have periods, we menstruate when we're young, we're teenagers and we go right through to the end when we've gone through menopause and we're post menopause and uh we start to fall apart, but you don't have to fall apart if you know everything that goes into it right at the beginning, if you know that estrogen is controlling your body for, for the last 30 to 40 years and then guess what?

It starts to leave in vast numbers. And so what happens? The walls, the wheels fall off and women feel subjected to degenerative diseases, type two diabetes, osteoporosis, heart problems, all sorts of things. But we can do something about it if we have some understanding before we reach the age of say 45. Because guess what hormones start changing at about the age of 35. But my story, my husband and I were on the steps of the divorce courts, we were going through a terrible situation. We hated each other. Uh We, we were still sleeping with each other. We've got a very big bed. We're not big people. So it was like living on an island. He felt isolated. He went through some terrible times himself because I didn't understand him. I didn't want to understand him and he didn't understand me either. And then through all this, I was diagnosed with depression and, and seeing a psychiatrist, I thinking what, what's happening here, what's gone wrong? Is this work life balance. Absolutely not. It's your hormones and menopause. And so I was diagnosed with mental health, depression.

Actually, I was experiencing hormonal depression. And if I'd have known that sooner, it would have been a completely different pathway for me. And during all this period, I wanted my life to end seriously. I didn't want to commit suicide. And I've now met so many women around the world who say that same phrase I want my life to end. So what can we do about that? We need to get more knowledge about menopause out there. Um, because the worst time, of course, as you're going through menopause is what I call the tsunami between the ages of approximately 48 to 52. When it's a bit like P MS on speed. When you're having your monthly P MS, um, aggressive, you're feeling a aggressive, you're feeling sluggish, you're feeling tired, low energy or you're going nuts. Well, all this is beginning to happen on a shorter time frame. And so what do you do about that? You wonder what's going on?

Well, I must resign from my job, you say? But that's not what you should be doing. So, let's go. Excuse me? Let's go on and look at some research that's been published. Now, this is UK research carried out by the TUC Trade Union Council. It's about, um, and a university. Um, Nottingham University and it's telling us and it's about 10 years old but there's not much changed, hardly anything. It's telling us there are some pretty high percentage numbers there that are telling us that women are not getting the support in the workplace. They're feeling wretched. They're feeling awful because they don't know what's going on and they want to know what to do next. But you know what? We can change all this. We can change all this by starting a conversation, starting a conversation with each other within your women in tech. You can have networking groups around the subject. Of hormones. We don't have to call it menopause. It, it can be about P MS about periods that lead to menopause. You need to start that conversation either in your own networking groups or in the workplace. Um And then because let's see what happens next. This is the impact and challenges for women in the workplace. Um you know, slips and trips, all sorts of things going on, no health and safety. Um Things have happened. Uh There's nothing in place to protect women.

And so it all goes a bit pear shaped and this, it's just so unnecessary, simple steps can be taken poor coping skills, lack of concentration. They are the biggies for women in the workplace. And during this COVID-19 lockdown, I've been trying to do some research on this and find out whether actually are women happier working from home. I know they've been trying for years to get access to remote working and maybe within the tech industry that's more accessible for you.

But in general conversation in general workplace, it's always been a no, no, but of course, with the lockdown, so many more people have been working from home and guess what? It's working productivity is still good. And I think for women going through menopause, this may be a good option for them because they don't have to wear that mask in the workplace. They don't have to pretend that they can cope and hopefully with some if they manage to start a conversation in the workplace, they can get something started and move forward and get everybody understanding it. Uh because here's the impact of ignorance and this happens to both men and women. Um men and women, what I mean? This happens to both women in the workplace and their employers. There's increased absenteeism, additional performance in um issues and staff turnover increases. That's not good for any organization that's so costly and unnecessary. And at the bottom of it, morale and motivation is low. Both for the women who are going through menopause and the other people in their teens because there's a conflict going on and nobody's quite understanding it because if we don't do something about it, if we don't start a conversation, this is what can happen next.

This slide always gets a laugh. I hope it's making you laugh as well. Um Because this in reality is what happens. Menopause is a silent career killer you've already seen in the other slide. You can't you feel your feelings of being unable to cope, memory, short term, memory loss. And you're thinking what on earth is going on? I'm going mad. Well, you are in a sense because your hormones are up and down like a fiddler's elbow and you don't have the same monthly changes that take place. It's like this instead. So one day it's good. One day it's bad. Um And that's not a good idea, is it? Uh So again, we need to start talking about it because women are resigning unnecessarily. That's good women that you need to be having a conversation about why they feel they need to resign not allowing them to do it. It's poor retention problems for the company that's not good for their profile either. And the worst, worst case scenario is that that woman eventually may get a settlement from her employer on the condition that she signs an ND a, um, a non-disclosure agreement. And I've seen that happen time and time again, it's emotionally draining and it's so unnecessary because again, if you don't get the ball rolling and start a conversation, this is what can happen.

Now these, this slide is based on UK law, but something similar is in place uh around the country, around the world. I know they've got something similar in Canada, in the US Australia and I'm sure it's in Europe and the rest of the world. It's about duty of care basically. Um But what was, what's going to happen if you all end up in court or you settle on the steps of the court with one of these settlement procedures and an nd A none of this is any good for anyone. It's too expensive. It's expensive financially, it's expensive emotionally. And there's a general and because there's a general lack of knowledge on the part of the women and on the part of the line managers. So what can we do about that. We're taught, we should be starting to have a conversation again. That's what it all comes back to. Um However, we could do this. Thanks. And this is about starting that conversation. This is about setting up support groups within your organization, having little helps come together.

They don't have to be all women. I want to get the men involved as well because they are, they show a lot of empathy and they can help put change in place. And together with the women, we can make change happen, we can change the type of workplace where we work. And it's so very important with the whole world now, looking at a much longer lifespan and much longer working uh span of say 70 years before we actually retire because people are are living so much longer and women are working already working so much longer. So we have to do something and I read something earlier today if I can quickly find my notes. Uh One of the other speakers here today said, um we need to fix the workplace, not the women. And I think that's absolutely right. And that was said by Michelle King King, who's the director of Inclusion at Netflix. Brilliant words uh Michelle and I totally support that and echo that and moving on to our next slide, I can make it so much easier for you because here's a three point plan. You look at this and you say you talk among in your groups that you've already set up and you say who needs to know?

Is it this department that is it hr health, our line managers, the women themselves, a combination of all this workplace champions even are very good at this. What information do they need? Do they need leaflets to hand out? Do they need some training? What do they need to do to be active in supporting and signposting their managers and the women going through menopause. Uh And then last of all, last and importantly, how once you've got something in place, once you've put a program in place that's going to support everybody, how do you measure that? That's important as well? You need to measure that everybody's become more productive that it's a happier atmosphere to work in that you're engaging with more women, more employees, more, more employees are women and they're going up the uh the ladder to reach the top to director level. Why not? They've got the qualities they can do this. Women are such so productive that we can all do this together. And um and so I think I've come to Yes, I have, I've come to the end of my presentation here. We're still all right for some time. I got, I'm just looking to see if I've got any questions. Um I can't see any particular questions, but that might just be me because I'm not as techy as you guys. Uh So that's, uh, perhaps I can pick up on that after my call.

But all that leaves me to say is be aware of your body, have more understanding about the power of your hormones and what they're doing to your body on a monthly basis. And how sooner rather than later your hormones are going to start changing around the age of 35. And that could cause all sorts of problems for you or you may sail through it, but either way you need to know about it. 80% of those women are going to have debilitating symptoms uh in one form or another. And to be armed to have this knowledge, knowledge is power. We can do something about it. And if I can help you any further, you've got my contact information there. Um It's been a pleasure talking to you today. I've still got a few minutes apparently. Um Yeah, I've got five minutes so I can carry on talking. What a pity. I don't have your questions. Uh But I know some of the general questions that were always being asked is how long does menopause last? Well, you know, your hormones start changing around the age of 35 and generally speaking, you become menopausal at the age of 52. That means 12 months without a period, that singular short period of time of 12 months, is that monumental name, menopause?

But it's all the stuff that leads up to that, that can be problematical and potentially when uh some women are reaching the age of menopause no more periods for 12 months. And then they start experiencing all these crazy symptoms. The hot flushes, the sweating. How do you deal with that? Some women don't suffer too badly. Other women, it's a serious, serious problem and stops them from doing their job properly. I've seen situations where a woman has had a, uh, she, she had three kids. She was turning up for work. She was doing shift work, uh for the police, actually the one of the UK police forces and she was sweating buckets. She didn't know how to deal with it. Neither did her hr And, and she was put on report. So you don't, we don't want these things to happen. So start that conversation, do come to me if you need any help and until then I will now close my presentation and once again, it's been such a pleasure to be on this international stage from my office. So that's a first for me. Thank you very much indeed. And I look forward to hearing more from you. Thank you. Bye for now.