people were alive within five years of a cancer diagnosis in 2022.
Evidence & Resources
Treatment, side effects and recovery
Treatment can help—and treatment itself can change working capacity.
Medication, hormonal treatment, procedures, surgery, rehabilitation and ongoing management may bring benefits, side effects, appointments and recovery demands. Work support needs to adapt to that changing picture.
Health, healthcare and work are connected.
Global evidence snapshot
Scale, context and equity matter.
women live with endometriosis, for which WHO reports no definitive cure and variable treatment response.
people experience infertility, while access to treatment remains highly unequal.
What the evidence says
Start with what is established.
01
The health evidence
Treatment choice depends on condition, severity, preferences, safety, access and reproductive goals.
02
The wider context
Endometriosis treatment may include pain medicines, hormonal therapies, surgery and multidisciplinary care, with variable response and recurrence.
03
What matters
Cancer recovery and return-to-work timing are individual and may continue after active treatment.
Working-life lens
The impact can appear in more than absence.
01
Capacity and participation
Side effects may affect cognition, mood, stamina, pain, bleeding or gastrointestinal function.
02
Systems and access
Recovery may be non-linear, with good days, setbacks and staged increases in capacity.
03
Trust and disclosure
Travel, appointment schedules and treatment costs can compound work and financial pressure.
From evidence to practice
Support begins with a respectful, individual response.
01
Listen first
Plan around current capacity rather than treatment labels.
02
Design practical support
Use staged return, flexible hours, task changes and regular review where appropriate.
03
Protect dignity
Expect needs to change and avoid treating a setback as lack of commitment.
Women Working Well’s research purpose
What Women Working Well is seeking to understand.
Women Working Well exists to investigate the questions that remain unseen or unanswered: what is missing from the evidence, whose experiences are under-represented, and how women’s health, healthcare, working life and life beyond work connect. These topic-specific priorities help shape the Global Women and Work Study.
01
What is missing
Treatment-effect research rarely measures detailed employment outcomes.
02
Who is under-represented
Side effects and personal-life trade-offs are under-reported.
03
What research should connect
More evidence is needed on sustainable recovery across different work types.
Sources and further reading
Global evidence and authoritative guidance.
These sources support the key statements on this page. Statistics are contextual, time-bound and should be read with their source definitions. Evidence from one country, occupation or health condition should not automatically be generalised to all women.
World Health Organization — Endometriosis →Cancer Australia — Practical issues after breast cancer →World Health Organization — Polycystic ovary syndrome →WHO/IARC — Global cancer burden estimates 2022 →
Important: This page provides general evidence and workplace information. It is not medical, legal or employment advice and does not replace individual clinical care or professional advice.
Keep exploring
See the connected evidence picture.
Return to the Evidence & Resources Hub or explore the Global Women and Work Study.
Evidence & Resources →