There is already substantial research showing that women's health can affect working life — through symptoms, healthcare experiences, absence, presenteeism, productivity, participation, income, career progression and workforce retention.
But the evidence is spread across conditions, countries, disciplines and organisations.
Women Working Well brings those pieces together in one place.
Our aim is to make credible research easier to find, understand and connect to real working life.
We distinguish between what the evidence shows, what it suggests and what we still do not know.
A woman may be navigating symptoms, healthcare, work demands, disclosure decisions and career consequences at the same time. Evidence & Resources is where Women Working Well connects those pieces.
Browse by health experience, work outcome or the point where health, healthcare and working life intersect.
Symptoms, presenteeism, absence, flexibility and the everyday impact of periods on work and study.
Pain, diagnostic journeys, treatment, work participation, flexibility and productivity.
Symptoms, confidence, work ability, workplace culture, adjustments and evidence gaps.
Work disruption, quality of work, healthcare experiences and feeling held back at work.
Treatment, appointments, disclosure, flexibility and the interaction between care and work.
Work participation, recovery, privacy, support and workplace responses.
Treatment, leave, income, fatigue, return to work and flexible arrangements.
Dismissal, minimisation, diagnostic delay, misdiagnosis, repeated help-seeking and work impact.
Attendance, presenteeism, hours, duties, retention, career progression and workforce exit.
When women speak, why they may not, manager response, privacy and workplace adjustments.
Policy, leadership, flexibility, implementation, manager capability and consistency.
Where the research remains incomplete, inconsistent or disconnected from women's full journeys.
Medication and treatment effects, surgery, recovery, appointments and return-to-work experiences.
Caring, family, relationships, daily functioning, finances, quality of life and what maintaining employment can require elsewhere.
Mental health impact, psychological safety, psychosocial hazards, stigma, disclosure, bullying, job demands, job control, support and organisational justice.
Listening, supportive leadership, disclosure experiences, respectful communication, manager response and the relational side of workplace support.
Life-course risk, recognition and care gaps, acute events, rehabilitation and sustainable return to work.
Work impact can be visible — or almost completely hidden.
Research on menstruation-related symptoms shows that productivity loss while remaining at work can outweigh absence. This is one reason WWW looks beyond whether someone showed up.
Studies across conditions including PCOS, endometriosis and menopause report associations with reduced work quality, changed hours, intention to leave, lost opportunities or difficulty remaining in work.
Work demands, environmental conditions, job control, flexibility and workplace culture can affect how manageable symptoms feel while working.
Some topics have large observational studies; others rely on smaller, self-selected or qualitative samples. WWW will make those differences visible rather than treating all findings as equivalent.
Women may continue working while seeking answers, returning repeatedly to healthcare, trying different treatments or managing symptoms that do not yet have a name.
Australian qualitative research into endometriosis includes women describing dismissal, delayed investigation and the need to push for care.
Women Working Well treats that journey as part of the work story too.
Read the Australian study →Policies and adjustments matter, but so does the way a conversation is received. This evidence pathway will bring together research on listening, empathy, supportive leadership, disclosure, psychological safety and respectful workplace communication.
WWW principle: a woman should not have to deliver the perfect conversation to receive a respectful response.
Women's health is not itself a psychosocial hazard. But job demands, low job control, poor support, poor organisational justice, harmful behaviours and poor workplace relationships can create or increase psychosocial risk around a difficult health experience.
The evidence base also needs to consider what treatment itself changes, and what maintaining work may require from the rest of a woman's life.
This category will bring together evidence on treatment burden, medication and hormonal treatment effects, surgery, recovery, medical appointments, temporary changes in capacity and return to work.
This category will consider caring and parenting, household responsibilities, relationships, social participation, sleep, finances, independence, quality of life and the personal cost of maintaining employment while unwell.
Evidence increasingly points to the interaction between workplace conditions, manager response, flexibility and organisational implementation.
Australian research on endometriosis found greater flexibility and control over working time could make symptoms easier to manage and support productivity.
Workplace studies show that managers often become the point where policy is interpreted and access to support is enabled — or constrained.
Research can find formal flexibility policies alongside inconsistent application, poor communication or concern about stigma.
Uniforms, temperature, access to facilities, task demands and control over the work environment can influence symptom experience.
Research into menopause and other conditions increasingly considers reduced hours, intention to leave and retention — not only immediate productivity.
The 2025 UK Government menopause review highlights a lack of high-quality evidence about which workplace interventions work best and for whom.
Workplace systems, healthcare access, employment law and cultural expectations differ. WWW will keep geography visible rather than assuming findings automatically apply everywhere.
As the resource library grows, geography can become a live filter alongside health topic, work outcome and evidence type.
This first curated library will grow over time. Each source includes a plain-English note explaining why it matters to Women Working Well.
World Health Organization overview of endometriosis, including symptoms, global prevalence and limitations in access to early diagnosis and effective treatment.
Large cross-sectional survey examining absenteeism, presenteeism, disclosure and preferences for flexibility during menstruation-related symptoms.
Study examining missed work, extended leave, quality of work, feeling held back at work and healthcare-delivery factors among respondents with physician-diagnosed PCOS.
Australian study examining changes in symptom management and productivity when working arrangements became more flexible.
UK Government review of evidence on menopause, employment, employer support, economic impact and evidence gaps.
Mixed-methods study including experiences of inadequate healthcare, dismissal, diagnostic delay, misdiagnosis and needing to push for care.
Cancer Australia guidance covering financial issues, time away from work, returning to work, part-time work and flexible hours.
Qualitative Australian research documenting barriers, delayed investigation and the need for self-advocacy among culturally and linguistically diverse women.
Safe Work Australia guidance on common psychosocial hazards, including job demands, low job control, poor support, poor organisational justice, bullying, harassment and conflict.
Australian employer-focused research exploring workplace policies, manager roles, flexibility and the gap between policy and lived implementation.
The same evidence means different things depending on where you stand on the Bridge.
See how health and healthcare experiences can interact with working life and what kinds of support are discussed in research.
Use evidence to understand work impact, privacy, flexibility and why a respectful first response matters.
Connect policy, leadership, manager capability, flexibility and implementation to real workforce outcomes.
Identify where evidence is strong, inconsistent, condition-specific or missing across the full health-to-work journey.
The Global Women and Work Study is being developed to investigate the journey between those pieces — across health, healthcare and work.
Not one condition. Not one workplace moment. The whole journey.
Explore the Global Women and Work Study →WWW should never need to exaggerate a statistic to make women's health at work matter.