Dr. Betty MurrayHelping Women Navigate Menopause | Speaker, Author, and Advocate for Women's Health Over 40

Why Menopause Is Costing the Economy Billions

19 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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1:16

In this presentation Dr. Betty Murray argues that a single, widely misinterpreted study—the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) from 23 years ago—has led to a cascade of economic consequences for women experiencing menopause. She cites a 2023 Mayo Clinic study that quantified U.S. work‑day losses at $1.8 billion annually, and a 2024 AARP survey estimating a global productivity loss of $150 billion. Adding healthcare expenses brings the worldwide cost to $600 billion. Murray also notes a 10 % earnings penalty for menopausal women and aggregates all sources of loss—presenteeism, absenteeism, healthcare, and workforce exit—into a $46.8 billion annual burden. The core claim is that the WHI’s overstated findings have distorted understanding of menopause, inflating health and economic costs.

Chapters

Because of one deeply misunderstood and overstated study, the Women's Health Initiative, that just destroyed women's health 23 years ago, Mayo Clinic published this landmark study in 2023 that showed that menopause work-related disruption and expenses cost the US economy $1.8 billion annually in lost workdays alone. And if we look at that AARP 2024 survey, They estimate the global productivity loss from menopausal symptoms is $150 billion in total. And then if we take that and add that to the total healthcare costs, it's $600 billion worldwide. Kind of restate that. There's a 10% earnings penalty just for going through menopause, and there's a $1.8 billion US productivity loss. And then if you add Mayo Clinic, They estimated all of that in presenteeism, absenteeism, healthcare costs, and the removal of women from the workforce because they just can't take it anymore at $46.8 billion a year. And this is all because of one deeply misunderstood and overstated study, the Women's Health Initiative, that just destroyed women's health 23 years ago.