"A part of being a woman, really": Menopause at work as "dirty" femininity. Issue 3 (16th December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Whiley, Lilith A.; Wright, Ashley; Stutterheim, Sarah E.; Grandy, Gina
• Is Part Of: Gender work and organization. Volume 30:Issue 3(2023)
• Page Start: 897
• Page End: 916
• Publication Date: 2022-12-16
• Subjects: critical femininities -- dirt -- dirty femininity -- femme theory -- femmephobia -- interpretative phenomenological analysis -- menopause -- stigma; Sex role in the work environment -- Periodicals; Sexual division of labor -- Periodicals; Sex discrimination in employment -- Periodicals; Organizational sociology -- Periodicals; Industries -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 306.361505
• DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12946
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0968-6673

Abstract

Abstract: This research extends understandings of women's lived experiences of menopause at work, as embodied complex gendered aging. Menopause as a type of "dirty" femininity and femme performance is theorized to elucidate both the stigmatizing effects of menopause at work and the opportunity to reclaim femininity in‐and‐for itself. This theory is illustrated through the accounts of women experiencing menopause at work. Menopause at work is problematized, pathologized, and "dirty" as an embodied experience that is physically, emotionally, morally, and socially tainted. As "dirty" femininity, menopause represents both material "dirt" (leaky bodies) and symbolic "dirt" (no longer leaky and no longer fertile), thereby eroding women's ability to perform patriarchal hegemonic femininity. Small pockets of resistance are also observed as some of these women engage in femme performances in defiance of hegemonic masculinity. The article offers avenues for future research in shame, taint management, women in leadership, and intersectionality to extend the conceptual and empirical contributions on menopause at work.