What’s the purpose of menopause?

As I move more into the menopause education space, my views on the importance of post menopause are slowly beginning to form and gel.

Previously, and like nearly every woman I speak to, I hadn’t given this time of my life much thought. It was just going to happen and I assumed I’d continue to enjoy life and follow my interests until the end.

The more I explore this area though, the more my thoughts are changing and developing.

Post menopause is not a phase to just plod though until death takes us. It’s a really important time in our lives.

Why is it important?

Because we have the knowledge, skills and experience to put back into the community without our attention needing to be focused elsewhere, it means we can do things that were not necessarily possible at other times in our lives.

The question arises, why do females in only a few species go through menopause when, in the majority of species, the females can reproduce right up to the end of their life?

Research is relativley unclear on this but it’s thought to relate to the Grandmother hypothesis. This hypothesis was proposed in the 1960’s and suggests that “older women play a vital role in helping to feed, raise, and teach their children and grandchildren. In doing so, they’re still ensuring the success of their genetic legacy.”

According to an article in The Atlantic, “There’s some evidence for this in humans: one study of Finns and Canadians found that women who live longest after menopause end up with more grandchildren, because their daughters are better at having and raising kids.”

Anyone else?

There were three species known to go through menopause - Orca, Short Finned Pilot Whales and humans. Recently Narwhales and Beluga whales have been added to this list.

Interestingly, those animals most closely related to us (e.g. apes) don’t have a long post menopause phase. If they do go through a form of menopause they tend to die shortly afterwards. So menopause is synonymous with the female no longer being fertile or able to bear offspring but living for a great number of years afterwards.

Orca are a great example of post menopausal females. They teach their offspring, particularly their son’s, where the best feeding grounds are, thus ensuring the survival of the species, and in particular, the survival of their genes.

We’re living a long time in post menopause

So, we know we are going to live a long time after menopause. In fact at least 35% of our life will be spent in post menopause, with that percentage rising the longer we live.

The question is, what are we going to do with all that post menopausal time?

Cultural norms have changed over the years and we no longer live in multi-generational families. Where previously we would have had a big role to play in raising grandchildren and supporting the parents of those children, these days we often live in different locations, including different countries and continents, making it difficult to provide much support at all.

What is our role?

So what then is the role of the post menopausal woman in today’s society?

As I feel into this, I’m starting to think that we are the change makers for those that follow. It’s no secret that the patriarchal system that has been present for the last 2000 years or so has not been kind to women.

The focus has been on competition rather than community, possession rather than sharing, and productivity over creativity. Whilst these aspects have brought us to this point, it now needs to change. The planet simply cannot sustain this way of living any longer, and women have a vital role to play in changing the way we do things going forward.

A more feminine way of working brings in community, sharing of skills and knowledge, working intuitively and the importance of creativity and beauty in what we do and also in our environment.

We’re not under threat

Unlike Orca, our species is not under threat. As post menopausal women, our role is no longer to ensure the safe continuation of the species. Perhaps our role has changed to a much bigger role - the safe continuation of the planet and all those on it?

I’m not sure exactly how we go about doing this. It is, after all, new territory. But one way we can do this is by leading the way ourselves, showing how we want to live and how following a more feminine way can lead to a more embracing culture.

Often women in business are successful because we mimic males in business. We’ve adopted their patterns of behaviour and ways of working because it was the only way to be seen and heard or to make any sort of progress or difference.

But if that were to change, and we worked in ways that came more naturally to us, following the rhythms of natures seasons, life seasons and our cycles, if we worked more cooperatively and collaboratively, and brought more beauty to the world, what would the world look like then? How would our respect for our planet, other species and each other change?

Quiet achievers

I believe many women in post menopause achieve great things, but we usually don’t hear about it. They are quiet achievers who don’t blare out their brilliance to all and sundry. I don’t think it’s about world dominance for them. It seems to be more about leaving a more subtle mark - something they’ve managed to improve or change for the better.

These women already know the legacy they leave behind but we should celebrate them for their amazing achievements. We really should be shining a spotlight on them, and showing a better way of doing things.

Seven generations ahead

As the world changes around us, what can we do to bring in the kind of world we want - the one that we want our children seven generations into the future to live in? A world that follows more feminine principles of kindness, cooperation, compassion and empathy.

And how best do we celebrate those quiet achievers that are blazing the way for all those who follow?

That sounds like a great weight - saving the world for those that follow seven generations behind - but if we focus on the way we want our lives to be right now, and live to that, I think the future will naturally be a better place.

Karen