people menstruate, yet WHO says robust menstruation research remains limited.
Evidence & Resources
Evidence gaps and research priorities
Not knowing enough is not a reason to do nothing. It is a reason to ask better questions.
Women’s health and work evidence is scattered across conditions, countries and disciplines. Important outcomes—including diagnostic uncertainty, life beyond work and unsupported retention—are often missing.
Health, healthcare and work are connected.
Global evidence snapshot
Scale, context and equity matter.
more than half the workforce is informal and is often missing from employer-based evidence.
WHO calls for stronger evidence on organisational action, manager training and supported participation.
What the evidence says
Start with what is established.
01
The health evidence
WHO identifies major research gaps across menstrual health, menopause and women’s health.
02
The wider context
Workplace reviews repeatedly note limited intervention evidence.
03
What matters
Condition-specific studies cannot alone explain the connected health–healthcare–work journey.
Working-life lens
The impact can appear in more than absence.
01
Capacity and participation
Organisations may act on incomplete or overly narrow evidence.
02
Systems and access
US or professional-worker findings may not transfer to other contexts.
03
Trust and disclosure
What is easily measured can displace what matters to women.
From evidence to practice
Support begins with a respectful, individual response.
01
Listen first
State clearly what evidence shows, suggests and does not establish.
02
Design practical support
Preserve geography, occupation and employment status in interpretation.
03
Protect dignity
Combine quantitative outcomes with women’s accounts of process and impact.
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
More longitudinal, intersectional and intervention research is needed.
02
Who is under-represented
Research must include healthcare experience, non-diagnosis and changing diagnosis.
03
What research should connect
Participation should include income, career, caring, relationships and quality of life.
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 — Menstrual health →World Health Organization — Menopause →UK Government — Menopause in the workplace literature review →World Health Organization — Mental health at work →
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 →