7 Ways the "Push Through" Mentality Is Costing Every Working Woman Everything — Horse Racing Just Proved It
A group of researchers in England spent a year (2025) listening to women talk about what it feels like to go through menopause while working in a tough, physical, male-dominated industry. They studied horse racing. They produced 78 pages of findings. But what they uncovered applies to every professional woman navigating midlife — including you.
The research shines a spotlight on seven ways menopause affects midlife women — touching their careers, finances, health, identity, relationships, workplace environments, and sense of community.
Here’s what the research says. And why it matters to your health, your career, and your money.
The Research in Plain Terms
77 people — mostly women — across British horse racing shared their stories through group conversations and one-on-one interviews. Trainers. Jockeys. Executives. Yard staff. The patterns they revealed cross every industry line.
7 Ways Menopause Affects Midlife Women at Work
1. Their Careers and Finances
Women scaled back hours, passed on promotions, and quietly left careers — not because they weren’t capable, but because their symptoms went unnamed and unsupported. One woman said it directly:
“None of us should ever have to get to that point where we’re having to choose between doing a job that we love, that we’re very good at — because the people in our sport can’t see the bigger picture and that support should be there.”
This is The Menopause Tax in action. The hidden financial cost of navigating midlife without the right information.
2. Their Health Awareness and Medical Care
Brain fog felt like burnout. Mood swings felt like stress. Memory loss felt like failure. Many women went months — sometimes years — before connecting their symptoms to perimenopause. One participant described her turning point:
“I sat down, and by the end of it, I was in floods of tears, because you suddenly realize — oh my god, I’m not going mad. This is an explanation for what is actually happening to me.”
When you don’t have a name for what’s happening, you make permanent career decisions based on temporary symptoms. Making it worse — even doctors weren’t always helpful. Women were dismissed, misdiagnosed, or handed antidepressants instead of real answers about their hormones. A senior manager observed:
“I absolutely, categorically know that it does not say menopause on any of that absence. It quite often says anxiety, depression, and that kind of thing.”
Wrong diagnosis means wrong treatment — and the financial damage keeps compounding silently.
3. Their Identity and Emotional Wellbeing
The research found that women stopped recognizing themselves. Participants often said they no longer felt like the same person. They pushed through exhaustion, brain fog, and physical pain — because that’s what was expected. One participant connected this to something deeper:
“I think we are conditioned to just try and make everybody else happy and push ourselves down, down that hierarchy a little bit.”
Pushing through is not free. It shows up later in stalled careers, deferred medical care, and lost earning potential.
4. Their Silence and Fear of Judgment
Women stayed quiet fearing they’d be seen as less capable or too emotional. One woman described working on a small yard:
“Some days, it’s one of the loneliest places to be. And I think if I went in and said I’m depressed, I’d probably get more respect than what I get for just being at the point I am in my life.”
Every day a woman chooses silence over support, she absorbs the full cost of her transition alone. Silence has a real dollar amount — and women are paying it.
5. Their Physical Workplace Environment
The research found that how much control a woman has over her physical environment directly affects how well she manages her symptoms. Women in flexible, office-based roles fared far better than those in rigid, outdoor, physically demanding roles who faced:
No bathroom access during long shifts
Heavy protective gear that made hot flashes unbearable
Zero flexibility in scheduling or movement
The ability to control your environment is directly connected to your ability to stay productive — and financially stable — during this transition.
6. Their Relationships With Leadership — Especially Men
Real, lasting change requires leadership buy-in. And in most industries, leadership is still predominantly male. What’s encouraging? Some men in this study were already starting to get it. One senior male leader said:
“It’s about the organisational scaffold so that, within reason, anything is supportable and normalised. Normalisation is the thing. We’re nowhere near that with this subject. But it’s not an ‘issue’ — it’s a normal part of life, as much as a mother taking time off for a sick child.”
Another was honest about his own gaps:
“Guidance for men would be interesting. Unless you experience something, you won’t have the same knowledge. I’m thinking about my colleagues — how we support more, or at least understand — so my antennae are up.”
This matters for every woman building a business, pitching for a speaking opportunity, or making the case for menopause support inside a corporation. Leading with the business case works. The Menopause Tax framework — connecting hormonal health to workplace productivity and financial cost — is exactly the language that opens doors that personal stories sometimes can’t.
7. Their Need for Community and Peer Support
Women who had someone to talk to — even informally — stayed in their careers longer and made better decisions. And women who got their symptoms under control described midlife not as a decline, but as a turning point:
“It can be a time of life to really start standing up for yourself and advocating for your own needs. I personally have achieved huge things in my perimenopause. I would love it if women could see this is not ageing — but entering the next brilliant phase of our lives.”
Connection is not just emotional comfort. For women in midlife, it is a financial protection strategy.
The Bottom Line
The women in this study worked with horses. But they could just as easily be in your boardroom, your clinic, or your business.
The pattern is the same everywhere:
Menopause goes unrecognized
Women absorb the cost in silence
The right information and community change everything
That is exactly why the intersection of menopause medicine and financial strategy isn’t a niche.
It’s a necessity.
Now We Want to Hear From You
Which of these 7 areas hit closest to home for you — your career, your health, your identity, your silence, your workplace, your leadership, or your need for community?
Drop your answer in the comments below. Your story might be exactly what another woman in this community needs to hear today.
Source: Clayton-Hathway, K. (2026). Racing Home: Menopause, midlife and well-being in British Horseracing. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.