1. INTRODUCTION

Menopause is a crucial life stage where age and gender discrimination intersect, creating a complex set of challenges for women. These challenges often lead to premature exits from the workforce due to discrimination or debilitating physical and psychological health issues (Yoeli et al., 2021; Hardy et al., 2018 and 2019). This paper analyses and compares menopause-related discrimination cases dealing with labour issues in English Employment Tribunals (ET) and in Spanish courts (Juzgados and Tribunales de lo Social). In the background of the study are recent developments in the UK judicial system that increasingly recognize menopause as a hidden but significant contributor to women’s exclusion from the labour market (Griffiths et al., 2013; D’Angelo et al., 2023). In contrast, despite a substantial population of four million menopausal women in Spain (Rodríguez Muértegui, 2022), a thorough search of the Spanish official legal database, CENDOJ (2020-2022)¹, has revealed a noticeable absence of case-law evidence explicitly reflecting a growing trend of women invoking disability or impairment arising from menopausal-related afflictions to sustain their professional engagements. These disparities are further highlighted by various reports and research conducted in the UK, which are conspicuously absent in the Spanish context.

Indeed, women make up nearly half of the paid workforce in many high-income countries, and in some industries, they comprise the majority. A growing number of women aged 45 and older have been engaged in paid employment over the past two decades. In 2025, it is anticipated that the global postmenopausal female population will reach 1.1 billion (Rodríguez Muértegui, 2022). These demographic and economic imperatives align with the fact that menopause is being experienced by many women while they are actively engaged in the workforce.

Research by the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)² indicates that 59% of women between the ages of 45 and 55 with menopausal symptoms experience work-related problems. The report underscores the lack of visibility and awareness of menopause-related issues in the workplace, emphasizing the importance of work environments offering support mechanisms and suggesting reasonable accommodations to women grappling with menopausal symptoms. There have been other significant developments in the UK, such as the establishment of the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, in June 2015³. Spain, however, appears to lack direct counterparts in terms of comprehensive research and assessments addressing menopausal discrimination at work. The country boasts robust gender equality laws enshrined in its Constitution, and many organizations promote gender equality in the workplace. However, these initiatives do not explicitly target menopause-related discrimination. What is more, Spain’s membership in the European Union brings the influence of EU directives and initiatives⁴ aimed at addressing gender equality and workplace discrimination, but such initiatives may not directly target menopause-related issues. Additionally, certain Spanish organizations, including the AEEM (Asociación Española de Estudio de la Menopausia⁵, raise awareness about menopause-related workplace challenges and offer resources for women and employers to navigate this life stage; even Spanish labour law provides reasonable adjustments to support employees with specific needs⁶, but menopause remains without explicit reference.

This study focuses on menopausal women involved in legal proceedings related to their job performance. The primary objective is to shed light on the level of awareness, or lack thereof, within employment courts and tribunals regarding the impact of menopause, which can significantly affect women’s well-being and self-esteem. It specifically analyses three judicial decisions in Great Britain and three judicial decisions from the CENDOJ database⁷ in Spain, centring on menopause as a workplace impediment. Using qualitative methods, this study employs emotion discourse analysis, as proposed by Koschut in 2018 and 2020, to scrutinize these judgments. The study commences with a macrostructural examination, unravelling the legal narratives contained within each subcorpus. It then proceeds to identify emotion-related linguistic patterns and emotional implicatures using the sentiment-analysis software Lingmotif 2.0 (Moreno-Ortiz 2021), revealing the cognitive mechanisms used to stigmatize or obscure the experiences of these women within the narratives. At this point, it is imperative to point out that, even if in this study we have chosen to single out emotion words, Lingmotif 2 calculates sentence polarity, taking into account both the number and the position of sentiment items, and, hence, being able to capture connotative emotion in the sentence.

In the following sections, we explore key theoretical aspects informed by multidisciplinary research on menopause’s impact on women’s work performance, societal perceptions in labour contexts, and menopausal women’s self-perception. We are analysing employment court organizational structures in different legal systems, comparing the UK and Spain to understand how they address cases involving menopausal women and their work-related challenges.

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1. Menopause and workplace challenges: a review

Recent research has increasingly highlighted the issue of workplace discrimination faced by women during the transformative phase that menopause represents. Our literature review has synthesized findings from various studies, shedding light on the multifaceted challenges that menopausal women confront in professional settings. A recurring theme across these studies is the intersectionality of menopause experiences, where gender, age, health, and work dynamics converge to shape women’s encounters with menopause. Riach and Jack (2021), Targett and Beck (2021), Whiley et al. (2023), and Verdonk et al. (2022) have all contributed to understanding this complex interplay. Riach and Jack (2021), specifically, reveal how physical and psychological factors intersect to shape women’s menopause experiences at work. They argue that it is often difficult to exclusively attribute discriminatory behaviour to menopause, leading to what they refer to as “slippery inequality”. Jack et al (2016) has previously pointed out that women commonly express their dissatisfaction with the lack of support, understanding, and accommodations in their workplaces. They believe that organizations should implement policies such as flexible work arrangements, temperature control measures, and educational initiatives for managers and colleagues, aiming to provide better support for women during menopause. Targett and Beck (2021) offer a different perspective, offering gender-specific considerations and addressing ageism within a workplace’s well-being strategy instead of a menopause policy, highlighting how gendered segregation and age-based bias influence menopause experiences.

Whiley et al. (2023), in turn, emphasize the invisibility, medicalization, stigmatization, and gendered nature of menopause at work, emphasizing the need for organizational support and further research in this area. They stress that a comprehensive understanding of menopause’s impact necessitates addressing its multifaceted nature, encompassing both physical and psychological aspects. Verdonk et al. (2022) carried out a narrative analysis covering a broad range of topics related to menopause and work, identifying knowledge gaps for further research. The study by these authors further highlights the lack of recognition of menopause as a workplace issue and identifies several key themes, including the impact of menopause on work ability and job characteristics, the role of psychosocial and cultural factors, and the need for interventions and support for women experiencing menopausal symptoms.

In terms of the relationship between menopause and job performance, several studies, including those by Steffan (2021) and D’Angelo et al. (2021), converge on the idea that menopausal symptoms can significantly impact success at work. Physical menopausal symptoms are closely linked to job performance but can be non-specific and hard to distinguish from other health problems. Along these lines Steffan (2021) found that women are engaged in conflicting behaviors to manage and make sense of their menopausal bodies at work, but all describe themselves in an emotion-laden narrative of fear, precarity, uncertainty, and isolation. D’Angelo et al. (2021) investigate the impact of menopausal symptoms on work outcomes, revealing their potential to reduce productivity and job satisfaction. The research underscores the necessity of employer support and accommodations for menopausal women.

Additionally, Bryson et al. (2022) study the consequences of early menopause on labour market participation, concluding that early natural menopause can curtail employment duration for women in their 50s, potentially affecting employment rates. Finally, Ambikairajah et al. (2022) address challenges in defining menopause stages in research, arguing for standardized criteria to enhance research comparability.

In summary, these studies collectively illuminate the multifaceted challenges encountered by menopausal women in the workplace. While each study emphasizes unique aspects, they all underscore the key role of organizational support, heightened awareness, and accommodations.

2.2. Work disputes in either system. The rationale of decisions on employment cases

As we have mentioned, the analysis compares the treatment of menopause-related discrimination cases in first-instance and appeal English Employment Tribunals (ETs), and appeals from Juzgados de lo Social (Spanish first-instance Employment Courts with provincial jurisdiction) to the Tribunales Superiores de Justicia, Sala de lo Social (Spanish Higher Courts of Justice, Employment Chamber, located in each Autonomous Government). These systems stem from the distinct legal traditions of Common Law and Continental Law, respectively. Notably, the treatment of judicial precedent and judgment styles in English and Spanish legal traditions differs significantly, in line with the tradition they belong to (Ruiz-Moneva, 2013; Orts, 2016, 2017).

In Spain, legal judgments, known as sentencias, are characterized by a distant and administrative tone. They employ alphanumeric references instead of litigant names and use highly impersonal language. These decisions adhere to a structured format characteristic of Continental-style judgments, as pointed out by Orts (2017: 227). In contrast, Orts (2017: 230-232) has identified a lack of consistent structure in English judicial decisions, challenging the assumption made by Bhatia (1997: 118) that they adhere to specific textual patterns. In her research, she asserts that English decisions display a more flexible structure than Spanish judgments, and are much more personal, incorporating litigant identities into the titles or headings of the judgments to enhance memorability, and convey the subjective perspectives of judges in their own first-person voice, and according to their particular vision of the case⁸.

Table 1 shows the typical structure of a judgment from a Juzgado de lo Social or that of a Tribunal Superior de Justicia, Sala de lo Social:

If the pattern is fixed, this structure does not necessarily make Spanish legal documents more straightforward to understand. The desire for textual precision leads to excessive wordiness, and the presence of intertextuality in the introduction of legislation and precedents creates epistemic asymmetry between judges as experts and recipients, making these texts challenging for laypersons to comprehend (Orts, 2017: 233).

In contrast, English legal judgments are concise and relatively intimate, though, as we remarked, sometimes lacking a clear, organized framework. Table 2 provides a suggested organization for ET judgments, which, as we shall see, is not consistently followed:

These structural and functional differences between the two legal systems significantly affect how employment issues, including those related to menopause, are perceived and addressed by judges and courts.

In the United Kingdom, additionally, employment tribunals function as independent bodies, entrusted with resolving employment-related disputes between employers and employees⁹. These tribunals possess jurisdiction over a wide range of employment issues, including claims of unfair dismissal, discrimination, harassment, breach of contract, and various other employment-related matters. Their primary objective is to provide a fair and accessible platform for resolving these disputes, and they operate as distinct entities separate from the ordinary court system. In cases of dissatisfaction with tribunal decisions, litigants can further petition to Employment Appeal Tribunals, serving as the appellate bodies for employment-related appeals.

In Spain, the Juzgados de lo Social serve as first-tier courts for labour and employment-related cases, handling a broader spectrum of disputes, including those related to employment contracts, terminations, wages, working conditions, and social security matters. The higher labour and social security tribunals, Tribunales Superiores de Justicia, Sala de lo Social, oversee cases appealed from the former¹⁰.

The differences in the way these judicial organs deem cases have an impact on how menopausal problems in the workplace are handled, as we shall see. Understanding these structural and functional distinctions is essential when analysing menopause-related discrimination cases and their outcomes in different legal systems.

3. MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study involves six employment law judgments, focusing on women dealing with menopause-related challenges. The corpus, while small due to its qualitative methodology, explores differences in sensitivities between the English Common Law and the Spanish Continental law systems. It examines how judges and parties handle women’s menopausal issues at work and their decisions to leave jobs due to irresolvable job-related conflicts. Three judgments originate from British Employment Tribunals (ET) and have set legal precedents in menopause-related cases. The other three were sourced out from 50 searches using the keyword menopausia from the Spanish CENDOJ database. They were selected for the sake of their similarity in topic with their English counterparts. Both were selected based on case types like ‘unfair dismissal’, ‘workplace discrimination’, and ‘permanent incapacity’. All Spanish cases are recursos de suplicación (appeals to the Superior Court of Justice, Employment division), while only one British case falls into the appeals category, with the other two resolved in initial stages. This asymmetry in the corpus might be further justified due to the scarcity of similar cases in Spanish legislation.

Tables 3 and 4 present the data for the two subcorpora, in English and Spanish, respectively:

In this study, we employ Koschut’s emotional discursive analysis (2018, 2020) to explore the emotional dimensions of menopause at work. Our analysis delves into various aspects, including:

1. Othering, Alterization, Stigmatization: This dimension focuses on characterizing menopausal women as the Other, and how emotional expressions may lead to stigmatization due to their responses to menopausal symptoms, resulting in stereotypes, discrimination, and a loss of social status (Koschut, 2020: 13). This concept can be related to how menopausal women may sometimes feel stigmatized or pressured to conform to certain emotional norms in the workplace, reflecting a belief that they should correct their emotional responses without external understanding and empathy.
2. Storytelling and Intertextuality: Narratives serve the purpose of making sense of emotional experiences and imbuing them with meaning. Sharing their stories about dealing with menopause can help others understand the emotional challenges they face and, in turn, promote empathy and support from the courts. Intertextual affectivity highlights the interconnectedness of different texts and their impact on authority and identity within historical and socio-cultural contexts (Koschut, 2020: 14).
3. Performativity and Interpellation: This idea can be related to how menopausal women may deliberately or inadvertently express their emotional states at the courts and in the workplace. It can help avoid situations where they may be cast as the Other due to their emotional responses during this life stage, ensuring a more inclusive and understanding workplace culture (Koschut, 2020: 15).

Our analysis seeks to unearth women’s narratives in legal contexts within the structural composition of court judgments, and the use of intertextuality might deepen our understanding of how the courts engage within the broader storytelling, particularly when addressing menopause-related matters in different legal systems.

First, a reading and summarization of the judicial decisions was conducted. Emotional items were then extracted using Lingmotif 2.0, discriminating between those items that were purely emotional and those that the system had classified as positive or negative (including words from the legal domain, especially in Spanish texts). Indeed, to aid our identification of emotional language and emotional implicatures, we employed Lingmotif 2.0 SA software (Moreno-Ortiz, 2021), a Sentiment Analysis tool which offers insights into the semantic tone and emotional intensity of textual content, making it a valuable resource for uncovering emotional undercurrents in texts related to menopause in the workplace. Subsequently, Koschut’s emotional discourse analysis was applied to give the results a deeper significance: We focus on expressions related to physical and psychological distress to unveil linguistic and cognitive tools employed to label and stigmatize women due to the consequences of menopause. We explore emotional words and emotional or e-implicatures – a term coined by Schwarz-Friesel (2015:186) to refer to possible inferences related to emotions – with a focus on expressions related to physical and psychological ailments and suffering.

4. MACROSTRUCTURE AND EMOTION DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN UK JUDGMENTS

4.1. Case one: A v Bonmarche Ltd (in administration)

This first decision, the shortest in extension, unfolds into two distinct, yet interconnected parts, both articulated through the voice and perspective of Judge McFatridge. First, we are presented with the Employment Tribunal’s judgment, followed by an elaboration of the rationale underpinning this ruling. The latter segment, comprising 20 sections, is further organized into three subsections: the findings of fact (sections 4-10), an exploration of the narrative surrounding the anonymous Claimant, known as A (sections 11-14), and ultimately the discussion and final determination (sections 15-20). Throughout, the legal framework invoked includes references to the Equality Act of 2010 and pertinent precedents that align with the essence of this case.

In Table 5, we present the results of the 30 major negative words and collocations that emerged in the text of Case 1, as extracted by Lingmotif 2.0 software:

The selection of words is expressive of the suffering of Claimant, a seasoned 37-year retail professional, who filed an age and gender discrimination claim against her employer, CB. Despite her impressive career and reputation as a top-performing salesperson, a significant shift occurred when her menopause began in May 2017. Her employer’s behaviour turned humiliating, with demeaning actions and derogatory comments witnessed by her colleagues, causing profound distress and humiliation to the Claimant. Negative emotional states such as suffering, depression, anxiety, panic, and stress, in addition to negative discriminatory actions like ‘harassment’, ‘humiliation’, ‘hostility’, and ‘degradation’, constitute the majority of the selections by the software:

1. He would demean her and humiliate her in front of other staff. Other members of staff were younger and would laugh at CB’s remark.

She asserted that her manager’s actions amounted to harassment and abuse inflicted upon her due to her status as a menopausal woman:

2. He continued to criticise the claimant unreasonably. On one occasion he criticised her for failing to staple together two pieces of paper and related this to her being menopausal.

The specific incidents she detailed included offensive and derogatory remarks, such as being referred to as a “dinosaur”, and criticism for minor oversights, which were attributed to her menopausal state. The Claimant supported her case with a statement detailing the impact of discrimination on her health.

3. She suffered a serious panic attack which required paramedics to be called.

The Claimant’s experience aligns with Koschut’s concept of alterization. Menopause transformed how her employer and colleagues, particularly CB, perceived her, leading to demeaning behaviour and casting her as the Other. Her menopausal status exacerbated the alteration, deepening her humiliation and marginalization. Additionally, her manager’s actions stigmatized her emotional reactions, creating barriers, fostering stereotypes, and reducing her workplace status. Harassment and eventual dismissal resulted from her emotional responses, significantly impacting her workplace experience.

Judge McFatridge analysed the Claimant’s methodical presentation of incidents categorizing them as direct discrimination, harassment, and victimization. The Employment Tribunal ruled in her favour, affirming the UK’s commitment to tackling workplace discrimination.

4.2. Case two: Ms M Rooney v Leicester City Council

Case two stands out among the analysed cases as the only one on appeal, sent back to the Employment Tribunal due to a ruling in favour of the Claimant by the Employment Appeal Tribunal. While, predictably, its judgment lacks a fixed structure, it spans 7,610 words, more than double the previous one. It starts with a Practice and Procedure section followed by the ruling. Judge James Tayler’s reasons for the Court of Appeal decision, like other cases, use a first-person voice and consist of 65 subsections, often lacking specific titles. The decision employs intertextuality by including excerpts from the original claim and references to the ET Judges. This intertextual pattern helps clarify the EAT’s role, expound on Equality Act implications for disability appeals, and provide recommendations to the Employment Tribunal for case revision. As far the narrative of the case goes, it is fairly illustrated in the negative words that Table 6 shows:

Similar to A v Bonmarche, the case under discussion frequently mentions climacteric issues, emotional states like anxiety, and various forms of suffering and discrimination-related terms. It centres on the Claimant, a social worker employed by Leicester City Council, who lodged multiple complaints against the Council, including disability discrimination, based on their treatment of her during her challenging two-year struggle with menopausal symptoms. Her claim form vividly described severe peri-menopausal symptoms, including insomnia, fatigue, light-headedness, confusion, stress, depression, anxiety, palpitations, memory loss, migraines, and hot flushes. She explicitly asserted that she had faced workplace discrimination due to her menopausal symptoms. Extracts 4 and 5 present the Claimant’s declarations:

4. I endured considerable suffering due to my menopausal symptoms, affecting my well-being and work performance.
5. My emotional state deteriorated, and I was subject to harassment and detriment, directly linked to my menopausal condition.

This scenario is closely tied to Koschut’s emotional discourse analysis, embedding emotional meanings within discourses. The Claimant’s extensive description of her menopausal symptoms, affecting her daily life, serves as an emotional narrative within this analysis. Her storytelling confers significance upon her emotional experiences, portraying them as notable challenges and shaping her identity as someone grappling with the emotional and physical toll of menopause. Moreover, her argument –that the ET erred by not recognizing her as disabled and subsequently dismissing her discrimination claims without proper analysis and rationale– aligns with Koschut’s concept of performativity (the activation of speech act chains and motifs through the deliberate construction of subjects) and interpellation of emotions (2020:10). She emphasized the importance of her emotional experiences, particularly their impact on her work capacity and overall well-being, which made the tribunal rule in her favour:

6. The Claimant has confirmed that her disability discrimination claims are direct disability discrimination […] and harassment and victimisation.

Highlighting the significance of her emotional experiences, particularly how her menopausal symptoms affected her ability to work and her overall well-being, she framed her experiences as discrimination based on her emotional state during menopause.

4.3. Case three: Leigh Best v Embark on Raw Ltd

The case of Leigh Best v. Embark, the longest in the corpus at 8,291 words, is among the recent UK employment cases explicitly addressing unfavourable treatment linked to menopause. The case revolves around Leigh Best, a 52-year-old employee who alleged age and sex discrimination. Intertextuality is heavily relied upon, referencing the Employment Rights Act 1996. Judge Elgot’s detailed decision is of particular significance within this context, carefully structured with 54 sections to address the unique aspects of Leigh Best’s case. The judgment comprises two main sections: the Summary of the judgment and the Reasons for the tribunal’s decisions, lacking a predetermined macrostructure. Key elements include the case narrative and defining main constructs such as “protected disclosure”, “unfair dismissal”, and “unfair detriment”, providing factors for remedy determination. Table 7 outlines the 30 primary emotion words and implicatures in the text, extracted from Lingmotif 2.0.

Similar to other cases, ‘menopause’ is mentioned three times, and words like ‘anxiety,’ ‘worry,’ ‘paranoia,’ ‘obsession,’ ‘fear,’ ‘petrified,’ and ‘meltdown’ convey negative emotions. Terms associated with actions against the Claimant include ‘complaint,’ ‘warn,’ ‘detriment,’ ‘threaten,’ ‘harassment,’ and ‘victimization.’ COVID-related words like ‘pandemic,’ ‘virus,’ and ‘lockdown’ are central to the narrative.

Judge Elgot’s ruling found that Leigh Best was unfairly dismissed due to ‘whistleblowing,’ making ‘protected disclosures.’ Furthermore, the Respondent, her employer, unlawfully subjected her to detriment, as a result of which the judge noted that she experienced anxiety, frustration, confusion, and danger. The extracts provided illustrate the judge’s narration of Ms. Leigh’s story:

7. [The Claimant was] very stressed and anxious, having a ‘meltdown’ about the covid 19 pandemic and its potential health and safety impact upon her and others including her two sisters and a nephew. She described herself as ‘petrified’.

Central to the Claimant’s complaint were her pre-dismissal priorities, notably her efforts to secure management support for enforcing COVID safety measures among her co-workers, which created a process of alterization and stigmatization, whereby she was laughed at, and called ‘menopausal’ because she was feeling that her health and safety were ‘endangered’ by the careless conduct of the staff. Both her employers and co-workers ‘harangued’ her and accused her of being ‘obsessed’ and ‘paranoid’ about the virus, and intimated she was old and deserved no better treatment than anyone else, hence the allegations on the part of the Claimant of ‘ageism’ and ‘sexism’. As an example:

8. […] the Claimant complains that Mr David Fletcher made inappropriate and derogatory comments about her age and remarks, relevant to her sex as a woman, relating to his perception or ‘guess’ that she might be menopausal or be experiencing stereotypical menopausal symptoms including that her husband would start looking at other younger women.

The Claimant’s experience in a hostile work environment, including personal space violations and harassment, is fraught with emotional distress. Her words and actions, taken to end the harassment and address health and safety concerns, reflect her emotional responses to an uncomfortable situation. The emotional context in the narrative extends to her relationship with her employer and co-workers, who cast her as the Other. This labelling leads to her being viewed as an outsider or someone different from the norm, causing her feelings of isolation and humiliation.

The tribunal’s decision also carries emotional weight. It recognizes that the Respondent, in an attempt to justify her dismissal, had retroactively fabricated misconduct issues. The ruling in favour of the Claimant regarding her unfair dismissal and unlawful detriment complaints acknowledges the emotional harm she endured.

5. MACROSTRUCTURE AND EMOTION DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN SPANISH JUDGMENTS

5.1. Case four: STSJ PV 109/2016 (María Luisa v NSS, TGSS, Mutua Fraternidad-Muprespa, and Atento Teleservicios España S.A.)

This initial case in the Spanish subcorpus adheres to the traditional format of the respective legal system, encompassing key sections such as Antecedentes de hecho, Fundamentos de derecho, and Fallo. The structure mirrors the typical format of Spanish legal decisions, characterized by a rigid and impersonal tone, featuring administrative and judicial language. This juridical style is often employed to uphold an aura of objectivity and impartiality, in contrast to the more personalized approach observed in English legal decisions. It underscores the formal and standardized characteristics inherent in Spanish legal discourse. Table 8 shows the most salient emotion words and emotional implicatures in the decision highlighted in red:

The first difference in relation to the English cases is the absence of the word menopausia, ‘menopause’, instead replaced by an array of words having to do with illness and pain, such as accidente, incapacidad temporal, enfermedad, trastorno, estrés, ansiedad, dolencia, lesión, insomnio, dolor, retraimiento, and padecimiento, highlighted in red, to distinguish them from the rest of terms. ‘Discrimination’ (discriminación) plays an important role, but other procedural words (absent in the English subcorpora) are also very frequent, such as condenar, impugnar, revocar, causar baja or imponer¹¹.

In this case, María Luisa claimed to have suffered an injury during her work. According to the medical report upholding her claims:

1. Cuadro de estrés, insomnio, ansiedad, falta de concentración que relaciona con la menopausia (desde hace 4 años) y con estrés en su trabajo, tras dos meses de baja [sic], acude a un psicólogo, toma Lexatin 1,5/ 12 horas, va estando mejor, nota aún dificultades para dormir, con despertar precoz, y se levanta cansada, con jaquecas y con dolor lumbar.

The Claimant, despite experiencing menopause-related symptoms, sought disability benefits, due to what was described as a ‘workplace accident’, rather than acknowledging her age-related condition. However, she could not establish a solid connection between her ailments and the alleged workplace accident which was the origin of her discrimination. The court found insufficient evidence of her claims, resulting in the dismissal of her appeal. It is crucial to emphasize, then, that María Luisa’s reference to menopause was minimal, and that she downplayed her true symptoms by attributing them to a work accident, which was not a typical incident, but a series of symptoms provoked by her work situation:

2. La actora causó baja por incapacidad transitoria con el diagnóstico de “trastorno de adaptación” y “estado de ansiedad”

These diagnoses of ‘adjustment disorder’ and ‘anxiety disorder’ reflect her ongoing struggles, which culminated in her medical condition. The strategic choice to link her symptoms to a workplace accident adds a layer of complexity to the emotional discourse within the legal context. By making this choice, the Claimant indirectly acknowledged the potential stigmatization or othering that could arise if she openly associated her symptoms with menopause. In this context, her emotional experiences, which she likely knew were tied to menopause, were presented in a way that deviated from a direct admission of their cause. A subsequent medical report states the following and confirms her diversionary strategy:

3. Todas sus patologías son susceptibles de estar relacionadas con’ una ansiedad crónica derivada de [sic] problemática laboral.

How the Claimant handles the emotional discourse to shield herself from potential negative repercussions or perceptions, aligns with Koschut’s concept of performativity and interpellation, reflecting the choices individuals make in expressing their emotional states and addressing the expectations and reactions of their audience within a specific context.

5.2 Case five: STSJ AS 3221/2022 (Celia v Clínica de Asturias, S.A.)

The second Spanish judgment, once again, adheres to the macrostructural rigidity of Spanish judicial texts, with a listing of the Antecedentes de hecho in 6 sections (the second section further subdivided into 28 established facts), followed by two Fundamentos de derecho (’the legal issues’) and the ruling (Fallo). Celia, an administrative assistant with over a decade at Clínica Asturias S.A., was dismissed in March 2022 for a long list of lacks of compliance on the part of her employer. Table 9 shows the main negative items gathered by the software, among which emotion words showing the Appellant’s feelings are basically absent:

We can see in the list of negative words that most of them are related to the legal process itself (despido, sentenciar, sanción, imputar, interponer, infracción, presentar demanda, despido diciplinario) and the accusations by the Respondent (riesgo, desobediencia, desatención, vulneración, sin autorización, riesgo, muy grave), who alleged reasons for her dismissal including uniform non-compliance, not wearing a mask during the pandemic and mobile phone policy violations:

1. Pero no solo incumple continuamente el manual de comportamiento de la empresa, sino que a su vez incumple el protocolo de actuación frente al Covid- 19. Estos, lejos de tratarse de hechos aislados son reincidencias y no puede ser tolerados por la Compañía por el perjuicio y las implicaciones que puede suponer. […] Consideramos que su comportamiento es muy grave […] poniendo en riesgo con este comportamiento su salud, la de sus compañeros y la de las personas que se encuentran en las instalaciones.

Contesting her dismissal, the Claimant cited health problems, possibly indicating a reluctance to disclose her condition due to concerns about climacteric. In her own narrative menopause is only mentioned once, but her symptoms are detailed:

2. […] todos estos problemas que tengo son de sequedad de las mucosas a raíz de mi comienzo con la menopausia en el 2019, vengo pegada a las gotas oculares […] por empeorar a raíz de la pandemia fue cuando me comentó que la mascarilla resecaba las mucosas.

Despite the deluge of accusations and reasons for her dismissal, Celia succeeded in having her concerns addressed by the tribunal, who ruled in her favour. The dismissal was deemed unjustified and discriminatory due to her undisclosed health issues and the company’s mishandling of the dismissal procedures. Among the established facts, the court states:

3. […] le [sic] sancionaron por mal uso de mascarilla, se siente acosada en el trabajo por temor a despido, taquicardia sinusal epigastralgia por ansiedad; También lo fue el día 18 de febrero de 2022 por presentar lesiones dermatológicas, maculares con prurito en ambas mejillas, sequedad nasal a tratamiento sintomático.

The Claimant’s array of maladies underscores her employer’s tendency to perceive her as the Other based on her menopausal symptoms. Her difficulties with mask-wearing during hot flashes amplified the stigmatization she experienced, ultimately leading to unfair treatment and her subsequent dismissal. As her story is narrated by the appellate judges, we are presented with the powerful impact of storytelling, characterized by the struggles associated with wearing a mask and the fact that her dismissal was unjust and discriminatory.

5.3. Case six: STSJ GAL 1377/2023 (Camila v Instituto Nacional De La Seguridad Social, INSS)

Like in the other cases, the macrostructure of this one adheres to the typical rigidity found in Spanish judicial decisions, structured into three fundamental parts: Antecedentes de hecho, Fundamentos de derecho, and Fallo. In Table 10 all the 30 most salient words are shown, with special emphasis upon her physical and psychological ailments:

The Appellant presented successive medical leaves due to temporary disability and requested a total permanent disability for her profession as a textile operator, which was initially denied by the first-instance court. Table 10 reveals a significant number of physical ailments and negative emotions that she experienced since she had her menopause at 40, and that had made her job unbearable. These terms include dolor, degenerativo, obsesivo, depresivo, patología, limitación, afectar, tristeza, empeoramiento, recaída, riesgo, ‘disability’ (no longer being able), lesión, and invalidez. The use of such words corresponds to a series of unsuccessful requests included in the decision, and the language in Table 10 further mirrors these demands, including incapacidad, incapacidad temporal, incapacidad permanente total, and incapacidad permanente absoluta. Demonstrating how intertextuality is vital in the case, the judgment reflects the list of medical conditions suffered by Camila, according to her medical reports:

1. […] la parte actora presentaba como cuadro clínico residual: trastorno distímico de personalidad con rasgos obsesivos, fibromialgia, artrosis cervical con discopatía C5- C6, C6-
2. espondiloartrosis dorsal y lumbar, artrosis de rodillas, artrosis manos, hallux valgas bilateral, hemangiomas hepáticos […]

In the discussed case, a notable link emerges between the Appellant’s early menopause and subsequent chronic health issues, including fibromyalgia and arthrosis. Although the judicial decision in her favour does not explicitly establish a direct connection, there is a potential interplay between these factors:

3. En base a lo argumentado procede la estimación del recurso presentado en su petición subsidiaria, y dictar un pronunciamiento revocatorio del recurrido, declarando a la actora afecta de una incapacidad permanente total para su profesión habitual de operaria textil.

In fact, emerging research (Jones et al., 2020; Koçak and Beji, 2023) indicates a plausible association between early menopause and an increased risk of certain chronic health conditions. This condition can worsen the risk of developing osteoarthritis (arthrosis) due to hormonal changes impacting bone density and joint health. Additionally, fibromyalgia, characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, may have potential links to hormonal fluctuations during menopause.

Although the Appellant could/would not overtly link her early climacteric to her health issues, the potential connection stands out. The court’s in-depth examination of her medical history stresses the need for a comprehensive understanding. While not explicitly stating a direct link between menopause and her chronic ailments, the text underscores the importance of intertextual elements, like previous leave applications and numerous medical reports, which enrich the narrative by providing context and historical perspective. They play a key role in contextualizing the emotional aspects of her case, aiding in connecting Camila’s menopausal condition to its potential impact on chronic health issues.

6. CONCLUSIONS

Our study represents a modest, yet significant stride toward raising awareness of the emotional dimensions of menopause in the workplace. Although our research is quantitatively limited, it lays a qualitative foundation, emphasizing the vital role that linguists can play in fostering such awareness. The analysis stresses the potential of the narratives presented here to increase understanding of the emotional aspects of menopause at work and contributes to creating a more compassionate work environment.

Extant research on menopause in the workplace highlights the complex interplay of biological, social, organizational, and legal factors shaping the experiences of menopausal women and the need for comprehensive approaches to support their health, well-being, and professional success. Our examination of English cases demonstrates a recognition of menopause as a significant factor in workplace challenges. Established precedents in case law acknowledge the impact of climacteric conditions, as evidenced by prominent cases we reviewed. Conversely, our analysis of Spanish judgments reveals a striking absence of direct references to ‘menopause’, reflecting a legislative asymmetry between the UK and Spain. While menopause-related difficulties were occasionally hinted at in Spanish cases, they were rarely explicitly acknowledged. This discrepancy unveils varying degrees of societal recognition and legal accommodation for menopause as a workplace challenge. Indeed, if case law has established clear precedents for women experiencing climacteric conditions in the workplace, in our Spanish corpus of three judgments –retrieved from the Spanish judicial database CENDOJ deploying the keyword menopausia as a search token–, we found that the term was seldom used, the issue rarely addressed as such. The absence of Spanish judicial rulings directly referencing ‘menopause’ is due to a clear legislative asymmetry between the two countries: in the United Kingdom, menopause with disabling symptoms is recognized as a cause of disability in employment cases, whereas in Spain the disabling menopausal syndrome does not enjoy the same legal recognition. Accordingly, menopause was often subsumed among various other health issues that rendered women unfit to work. In the Spanish cases resembling their English counterparts in topic, menopause was subtly alluded to, but not explicitly acknowledged as the primary cause of workplace difficulties. The differential responses in English and Spanish judicial discourse reveal varying degrees of societal recognition and legal accommodation for menopause as a workplace challenge. Our work highlights the pressing need for a more nuanced understanding of this temporary condition as an intersectional phenomenon and calls for transformative legislative changes to address the current disparity.

Our analysis, then, could contribute to creating sensitivities in translators and applied linguists, to the least, even as we acknowledge the quantitative limitations of our specific study. We anticipate that future research can offer deeper insights into this important topic, paving the way for more comprehensive solutions. Ultimately, it is imperative for both the legal system and society to reflect on these issues, recognizing and addressing the challenges faced by women experiencing menopause in the workplace globally. And linguist and translators should be poised to the feat.

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Notes

¹ CENDOJ, Judicial Documentation Center, https://www.poderjudicial.es/search/ (Last accessed 24th march 2024). [Volver]

² https://www.cipd.org/en/topics/menopause/ [Volver]

³ https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/328/women-and-equalities-committee/ [Volver]

⁴ https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/gender-equality/women-labour-market-work-life-balance/womens-situation-labour-market_en [Volver]

⁵ https://aeem.es/, or Spanish Association for Menopause Studies (my translation). [Volver]

⁶ https://www.inmujeres.gob.es/servRecursos/organismos/home.htm [Volver]

⁷ https://www.poderjudicial.es/search/indexAN.jsp [Volver]

⁸ Spanish judicial rulings tend towards impersonal style and obscuring the voice of the judge, but without total stylistic consistency. Especially in judgments of collegiate bodies, where multiple judges sit, the voice of the ruling body is expressed through an alternation of verbal forms in the third person singular and the first person plural (Garofalo 2009). [Volver]

⁹ Employment Tribunal system in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/courts-tribunals/employment-tribunal [date of consultation] [Volver]

¹⁰ Juzgados and Tribunales Superiores de Justicia, Sala de lo Social are regulated by the Ley Reguladora de la Función Social: https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/2011/10/10/36/con [date of consultation] [Volver]

¹¹ In the context of a judicial case involving mistreatment of women at work due to their menopausal status, seemingly neutral Spanish terms from the judicial procedural field, such as interponer (’to file’), impugnar (to challenge), revocar (’to revoke’), and desestimar (’to dismiss’), can indeed imply a negative connotation or emotion akin to terms like enfermedad (’illness’) or accidente (’accident’), which are intrinsically negative. This is because they often carry implications of conflict, dispute, and negative outcomes, such as the dismissal or rejection of their grievances, reflecting the complex interplay between language, culture, and the legal system in shaping perceptions of justice and equity. [Volver]