Why do middle aged women suddenly become invisible?

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At the heart of the puzzle lies the thorny issue of the role and power of middle aged women in society - read more .

In any society, women's status, self-image and roles are conditioned by when, where and how they live, as well as with whom. These factors connive together to create an expectation of what women and their bodies are for.

Menopause is a body experience but it has big social and cultural implications that are tied up with fertility, sexuality, independence and aging. What menopause really means in any given society is a reflection of how middle aged women are valued.

But the Change is changing!

Social and cultural studies of the nature of menopause have shown that there is no single meaning of the term "menopause," and in some cultures there isn't even a direct translation for this word.

In fact, the phase in women's lives around the time of their last ever period, is ever more mysterious - especially now that cultures and societies are intermingling so much.

Because as women’s lives are changing, so society is also changing its opinions about what a middle aged woman and her menopause are all about.

And these social and cultural changes in turn have a feedback effect on how women as individuals experience their own menopause.

Some factors that are contributing to the way menopause is understood are:

Sixty-something is still strong and sexy

Middle aged women are becoming more and more visible as they reject stereotyping and seize opportunities to realise their full potential, rather than being full-time grandmothers. Look at women like Meryl Streep, Angela Merkel, Hilary Clinton, Shirley Bassey, Helen Mirren and Margaret Chan just for starters.

Women are much more than baby-makers

Younger, fertile women are increasingly rejecting roles in which they are limited to childbearing, child-rearing and housekeeping alone.

Golden post-menopause years

Increased life expectancy and increased health into later years mean 50- and 60-something women are fitter than before and a long way from throwing in the towel. At the turn of 20th century a British middle aged woman aged 50 could expect to live for just another 20 years, often in poor health. Today a 50 year old woman can expect to live to almost 85 years, hopefully mostly in good health.

Menopause has been with us for a long time

Although nobody really knows why middle aged women go through menopause, evolution undoubtedly had its reasons.

And please take note of this: although some people and even a few doctors will try and convince you otherwise, increasing life expectancy does NOT mean that menopause is a new phenomenon. All the evidence suggests that menopause has been around for a long, long time.

Culture creates menopausal experience

Cultural anthropological studies are consistently showing that the only universal physical sign of menopause is the end of periods – period (pardon the pun). There are wide cultural differences around the world in all other menopause signs and symptoms.

How menopause varies with culture - read more.

The roles, value and power of older women also show big cultural differences. So this raises fascinating questions about the exact mechanisms of what we in Western cultures tend to regard as "typical" signs of menopause. Biomedical science still has a long way to go before it can unravel all the mysteries of women's bodies!.

To a large extent it is the negative social view of menopause in Western cultures that is really causing women to feel so bad about their middle age transition.

And even though a few strong women are taking the lead, there is still a large tendency for society as a whole to regard middle aged women as Invisible Women.

So in a nutshell, it’s time to revise your feminist theory because:

Menopause is a feminist issue!

AND ... our obsessive youth culture is a counter force to a happy middle age.

Middle aged women in Europe and North America may be striding out of their kitchen doors and taking up the search for their own long lost dreams rather than those of their husbands and children but there’s still very long way to go.

Positive midlife women - read more .

The current Western obsession with youth threatens to freeze our social view of menopause into the phase that robs women of their womanhood and sexual attraction – and makes them invisible. The rapid retirement of forty something women stars from Hollywood movies and from reading the news on our TV screens is just one obvious sign of this invisibility.

But post menopausal women are and can be immensely attractive! And as well as attractive we are experienced, wise and immensely valuable. But we must change the stereotypes.

Women and the men who love them need to keep on challenging the stigma of menopause so that older women and their contributions can be valued. Surely it’s not only what women need but what our muddled up global society also needs desperately?

Published February 2010. Updated 26/2/2011

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