Menopause & ethnicity

The menopause transition and the role of health care providers for minority ethnic women.

There is currently limited knowledge about the menopause experience of women from diverse ethnic communities in the UK, including their views on, and interactions with, healthcare providers. Existing research suggests that barriers to healthcare require further exploration from both the women's and providers' perspectives. 

The University of Liverpool’s Centre for Ageing and the Life Course has received a £320k research grant from the Medical Research Council (MRC) for a £409.9k project to investigate the medical, social, and cultural dimensions of minority ethnic women’s experience of menopause. The research will provide guidance to aid health care interventions targeted at both menopause and later in the life course.

Examining the lived experiences of menopause among two minority ethnic groups in Liverpool, the study will focus on women of Chinese and Black heritage. It aims to explore the diversity both within and between these communities by considering biographical life course factors such as socio-demographics, migration history, employment, and reproductive history. The research will investigate how these factors influence menopausal experiences. The interdisciplinary research project, led by Professor Susan Pickard, Director of the Centre for Ageing and the Life Course, will run from September 2023 – March 2026. 

This project also seeks to explore the approaches of consultants, GPs, and other health care practitioners to support ethnically diverse women through the menopause transition, identifying both barriers and facilitators to support interactions.

Building on previous sociological research and recognising the need to address the widening health disparities between white and minority ethnic communities as they age, this study adopts a culturally-informed approach to menopause. 

Key partners

The core research team for the project will be led by Susan Pickard as Principal Investigator, and includes Dr Elham Amini, Dr Susan Waigwa, and Ting (Tina) Chow from the University of Liverpool, Dr Lynn Tang, Royal Holloway, University of London, Dr Jane Wilkinson from Liverpool Women's Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Dr Paula Elizabeth Briggs from Liverpool Women’s Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Chair of the British Menopause Society, as Co-Investigators.

They bring collective experience in the life course, cultural gerontology, medical sociology, lived experience and service users’ perspectives, inequalities and related policies, menopause, mental health, and sexual and reproductive health.