IN DEPTH ‘‘
Rob Green is Editor of Information Professional.
This is just a sensible thing to do. The best thing about support for menopause and menstrual health in the workplace is that what we’re talking about is low cost but high impact interventions. – Kathleen Riach
Let’s talk: Feminist librarianship
With a new and updated ISO covering menstruation, menstrual health and menopause in the workplace due to be launched in 2026, CILIP’s Kirsten MacQuarrie spoke to one of the standard’s chief architects, Professor Kathleen Riach. This is an edited version of their conversation, and you can read a more in-depth exploration of this and other important issues in, Feminist Librarianship: Principles, practices and provocations, edited by Kirsten and out now through Facet Publishing.
PROFESSOR Kathleen Riach is the convenor for the development of ISO 45010, titled Occupational health and safety manage- ment – menstruation, menstrual health and menopause in the workplace – Guid- ance. This new international standard builds on Kathleen’s work in developing a British Standard (BS 30416), and helps to move menstruation, menstrual health and menopause into the sphere of occupational health, rather than wellbeing and wellness initiatives, where it has traditionally been situated.
Kathleen says that the development of BS 30146 was the culmination of 10 years of growing interest and public awareness. “There was an emergence of people starting to talk about menopause, such as Louise Minchin, Davina McCall and other celebri- ties. And we saw that wave being reflected in later years in the US: Michelle Obama, Jennifer Aniston, and Drew Barrymore, actually talking about meno- pause as a thing that they’ve experienced. “What we also started to see was menopause being cited in employment tribunals as a reason around dismissal or discrimination. Menopause isn’t categorised as a Protected Characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, but sometimes it can be seen as a proxy: if you have significant symptoms that have an impact for longer than 12 months, it can be viewed as protected under disability discrimination.
44 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Kathleen Riach.
“So, it was like a perfect storm of growing cultural awareness and tribunal actions connected to the workplace. But we also see women starting to be less apologetic about growing older; we start to see visible awareness that there are more plural ways to grow older than simply either denying your age or becom- ing invisible, which historically has been the case.” The British Standard came in 2023 and followed the release of guidance from the Chartered Institute of Personnel in 2019, in the form of the Menopause
April-May 2026
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