The International Organization for Standardization delivered some hopeful news for the estimated 657 million women worldwide who are navigating employment while experiencing menopause or perimenopause. This month, ISO published the first global standard on menopause in the workplace. The new standard (ISO 45010) marks a major step forward on gender equity for working women.

ISO is a non-governmental international organization that convenes experts to establish global standards on occupational health and safety. The US has been an ISO member since the organization’s founding in 1947. The American National Standards Institute coordinates US participation in ISO.

“ISO 45010 provides internationally agreed recommendations to help organizations better understand the factors that can affect employees experiencing menstruation and menopause, and identify practical actions to support them,” said Sergio Mujica, ISO’s Secretary General, in a September 7, 2026 press release.

The ISO menopause standard is designed for organizations of all sizes and sectors. The standard offers business leaders, human resources professionals, and DEI practitioners detailed guidance on workplace design, policy development, management training, and worker education to support women at the height of their careers. The guidance focuses not only on removing workplace barriers, but also on reducing harmful stigma around menopause.

“Employees increasingly expect employers to provide practical support, yet many still feel these issues are not openly discussed or consistently addressed. Closing that gap will require employers to move beyond awareness and create environments where people feel supported throughout every stage of their working lives,” said Anne Hayes, a director at the British Standards Institution, who led the working group that developed the new ISO standard.

To facilitate global access and adoption, ISO has made the new standard available free online. “By removing financial barriers, organizations of all sizes, regardless of location or resources, can access and implement the standard,” said Mujica, “helping employers create supportive working environments.”

Key Recommendations From The ISO Menopause Standard

The ISO standard on menopause in the workplace recommends that organizations begin with an internal audit of their existing practices. The standard includes a detailed checklist for conducting a menopause support assessment. The audit should include physical aspects of the workplace, formal policies, training, education, and workplace culture.

The ISO standard offers an expert-compiled list of specific best practices for workplace design to support women through perimenopause and menopause. Many of the design changes, however, would likely be welcome health and safety improvements for the rest of the workforce as well. “Any changes made to the physical working environment are likely to benefit all workers,” the researchers noted, “creating a better workplace for all.”

The recommendations include ensuring access to clean and private sanitation facilities, cool drinking water, and breathable uniforms. The standard also recommends consideration of workplace temperature control, ventilation, humidity, air quality, lighting, and noise reduction to support women who are experiencing hot flashes, light and noise sensitivity, and other common menopause symptoms. Employers are also urged to consider a range of workplace flexibility options, including variable start and end times, breaks, remote work, and short-term leaves.

To reduce workplace stigma around menopause, the ISO standard also includes a Manager Toolkit that describes effective manager training, appropriate employee education, and medical privacy practices. The guidance includes detailed examples for how managers may respectfully approach conversations with women about their menopause-related symptoms and accommodation needs.

Finally, the ISO standard recommends establishing metrics to measure the impact of menopause support practices. This includes collecting quantitative and qualitative data assessing worker satisfaction and wellbeing, policy use, and employee retention.

US Law On Menopause Discrimination And Accommodation

“US employers shouldn’t dismiss the ISO 45010 standard as something that was created elsewhere or that applies only to businesses in other countries. These issues are not confined by national borders,” said Rutgers law professor Marcy L. Karin, via email. “By using an occupational health and safety frame and providing a shared vocabulary and understanding, the standard shifts the focus from silence and individual shame to systemic workplace support.”

While the ISO menopause standard is voluntary in the US, implementing its recommendations could help US companies reduce legal risk under federal and state laws. The US Congress has not yet passed a law explicitly addressing menopause in the workplace. But legal experts contend that menopause-related discrimination is implicitly covered by federal and state laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sex, age, and temporary disability.

Menopause and perimenopause symptoms are “conditions unique to women, occur almost always after 40, and often rise to the level of covered disabilities,” explained employment law attorney Jack Tuckner in a phone conversation. “So how can menopause not be an obvious sex and age-based temporary disability?”

Tuckner argues that employers may also be required to provide workplace accommodations for menopause symptoms under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Some employees may also be eligible for temporary or intermittent leave for severe menopause symptoms under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

Beyond general employment discrimination laws, momentum is growing at the state and local level for specific menopause legislation.

On June 24, 2025, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee signed a first-of-its-kind state law prohibiting menopause discrimination in the workplace and requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations for menopause symptoms. On December 3, 2025, Mayor Cherelle Parker signed a similar city ordinance governing employers in Philadelphia, which takes effect on January 1, 2027. Illinois followed on August 7, 2026, by amending its state employment discrimination law to include workplace protections for employees experiencing menopause-related conditions.

The Menopause Education Center is tracking all US legislative activity on menopause protection, which is accelerating across the country. As of June 4, 2026, menopause-related legislation has been introduced in more than 20 states, according to the report’s authors, who include the Center’s Founder Rachel Anne Spinka, the Center’s Chief of Staff Michelle Corpuz, and Rhode Island Senator Lori Urso, who introduced the successful Rhode Island bill.

While the US still lacks a unified federal menopause protection law, employers’ legal risk for menopause-related discrimination and accommodation claims is increasing. Implementing the recommendations from the ISO global menopause standard could help reduce legal risk by demonstrating a company’s efforts to adopt the latest expert-based best practices on menopause support.

“With the growth of new, explicit statutory protections as well as regulatory guidance confirming that existing sex, age, and disability laws can apply to these biological processes, the ISO standard can provide an important comparative baseline for courts and enforcement agencies considering questions such as what constitutes a reasonable accommodation,” said Karin.

The Business Case For Menopause Support In The Workplace

Women ages 45 to 64 make up over 17% of the U.S. labor force and are among the fastest growing demographic, according to US Department of Labor data. So employers that ignore menopause support risk losing out on a critical pool of experienced and talented workers.

Nearly seven in 10 women believe that employers should play a role in supporting their employees’ menopause-related health issues, according to a 2026 survey of 6,494 women across seven countries, cited in the ISO report. At the same time, six in 10 respondents said they had never heard their employer proactively talk about menopause support.

A 2022 survey by Biote found that 92% of women ages 50 to 65 had experienced menopause symptoms in the past year. Four out of ten women said that menopause interfered with their work performance at least weekly, and 17% acknowledged quitting or considering quitting their job due to menopause symptoms. Yet over 87% of the women surveyed said they had not spoken to their employer or manager about their menopause symptoms. The women feared stigma and did not believe that speaking up would do any good. Nearly 65% of the women said their workplace lacked any form of menopause accommodations.

Rising employee expectations come amid growing evidence that inadequate workplace support for menopause not only impacts employee health and wellbeing, but also unnecessarily hinders attendance, productivity, and career progression. The Mayo Clinic estimates that a lack of menopause support may cost US employers $1.8 billion in lost work each year.

Yet research reveals that most forms of menopause support, including the recommendations in the new ISO standard, are typically low-cost, practical, and nondisruptive to implement. Investing in workplace policies to support menopause also provides companies a competitive advantage in recruiting and retaining top talent, reducing turnover, and improving brand ambassadorship.

“Ignoring the recommendations of an international standard created through a consensus-based process,” said Karin, “sends a clear and potentially damaging message to current and prospective workers about who is truly valued in an organization’s workforce, and to what depth that support extends.”