Menopause is having a moment—and that has big implications for the K-12 workforce.
For as long as there have been women, there has been menopause and, presumably, the symptoms that accompany it, which can include one or more of the following: hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, joint and muscle discomfort, mood changes, and brain fog.
But until recently, mere mentions of menopause tended to happen quietly, mainly among women experiencing this normal stage of life.
Now, menopause is being recognized not only as a women’s health issue but as one that affects all of society—including the teacher workforce—three-quarters of whom are women.
“The data [on the effects of menopause] have been around for a long time. But it was either super-academic, or there was shame around this aging process,” said Rachel Anne, founder of The Menopause Education Center, an organization providing evidence-based information and training on the health issue.
“That is no longer the case. Women are speaking up. Men are speaking up, policymakers are speaking up … The implications of that are going to be so far-reaching.”
Some policymakers aren’t just speaking up, but taking action. This June, Washington State enacted an executive order directing state agencies to implement menopause accommodations and create training-related resources for public and private employers.
That policy followed Rhode Island’s adoption of a workplace menopause-protection law, effective June of 2025, which requires employers to provide workplace accommodations for employees experiencing menopause.
To date, these state-level policies don’t directly affect public school employees. But the general increased awareness of how menopause shapes both employees as well as employers’ bottom lines has potentially big meaning forthe education sector—and could bring greater support to educators experiencing menopause, and to their employers.
The majority of school employees will experience menopause on the job
The average age of menopause in the United States is 52. But most women begin perimenopause, the transition toward menopause, in their mid-40s. This transition, and attendant symptoms, can last a decade or longer.
“The highest concentration of women most likely affected by menopause are between the ages of 40 and 55, said Anne, of the Menopause Education Center. They are your teachers. “They are your school administrators. They are your school board members. They are your district employees.”
Seventy-seven percent of K-12 public school teachers, and nearly 90% of all elementary school teachers are women. Fifty-one percent of all K-12 teachers are women in their 40s and 50s, according to Pew Research Center data.
In addition, more than half of school principals are also women. The average age of principals is 49, federal data show.
And unlike many jobs today, which allow hybrid or remote work options, most jobs in K-12 education require employees to be in-person, and “on,” all day.
Menopause costs employees and employers
“For teachers [experiencing menopause], especially elementary teachers, it really is a ‘grin-and-bear-it’ situation,” said Cheryl Demke, who taught high school for 20-plus years at Washington state’s Deer Park school district. She now runs Deer Park High School’s online program and serves as the school’s librarian.
“If you’re facing a group of 2nd graders, you can’t just say to them, ‘I need a minute.’”
Demke, 58, says she’s past most of the menopause symptoms that once plagued her. And while she acknowledges that some of her menopausal colleagues may have quit their jobs or wanted to, that was never an option for her, financially.
“There’s no way I could quit my job, even if my symptoms were really awful. I would just have to find a way to get through them,” said Demke, who is also president of Deer Park district’s teachers’ union.
But a sizable percentage of women in the general workforce, in fact, do miss work or quit altogether due to menopausal symptoms.
In a global survey of 8,000 women who currently or previously experienced menopause in the workplace, 28% of respondents reported missing a few days of work in a given month, and 12% said they’d missed a week of work in a month due to symptoms. Fifteen percent said they’d considered quitting their job because of their menopausal symptoms; 13% did.
Missing or quitting work due to menopausal symptoms affects not just individual employees; it hurts employers, too. A 2025 RAND report on the economic impact of menopause put the annual cost at $5.4 billion in lost productivity.
The same RAND report ranked the economic burden of menopause by industry. The annual economic cost of the health issue in the education-services sector is $798 million, the second-highest of any industry, behind only health care, at $1.2 billion.
Change starts with greater awareness
Simply making it acceptable to acknowledge menopause in the workplace can bring benefits to school districts and individual employees, advocates say.
“When menopause is addressed inside of an organization, when you change the conversation from shame and fear to empowerment and awareness, it shifts everything,” said Anne.
These conversations could eventually lead to policy changes such as those recommended in the RAND report. Those include workplace accommodations, expanded healthcare coverage for menopause treatments, targeted support for employees, and broader efforts to reduce stigma and improve awareness of menopause symptoms and their management.
These changes start with awareness.
“The more people talk about menopause, the less there’s a stigma around it,” said Demke, from Deer Park. “If administrators or even colleagues are aware that this is real, and there are very real things that people are experiencing, I think it helps. At least it’s a starting point.”
