As several of my previous posts attest, issues relating to women’s health have near certain implications for why women continue to lag so significantly behind men in leadership roles. See, for example, this.
Earlier I referenced the following factors, each of which pertains:
- Women get pregnant. Men do not.
- Women give birth. Men do not.
- Women breastfeed. Men do not.
- Women are vulnerable to mental and physical disorders associated with pregnancy and childbirth. Men are not.
- Women go through menopause. Men do not.
To this litany one major biological difference between women and men remains to be added. Women menstruate. Men do not.
Why, and how, does menstruation matter? It matters primarily because large numbers of women have dysmenorrhea – menstrual cramps. These cramps usually begin just before women get their period and they subside after a few days. Additionally, are other symptoms sometimes associated with menstruation, such as nausea and fatigue.
Of course, many women have no symptoms at all during their periods. But about 60 percent do: they report having mild cramps just before and during menstruation, and somewhere between 5 and 15 percent report having pain so severe it interferes with their daily activities. (This number is likely however to be much higher. Healthcare providers believe that many women who have menstrual pain do not report it.)
Notwithstanding the 60 percent figure, the number of women who suffer some sort of discomfort associated with menstruation remains unclear. For example, one Dutch study found that fully 85 percent of women who responded to an online study said they experienced painful cramping during their periods. In contrast, though the number is still significant, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports a much lower figure, 50 percent. Specifically, it has found that half of women who menstruate have some pain for 1 to 2 days each month.
Why the variability and uncertainty? Because the subject remains taboo. It is this taboo – and the shyness, embarrassment, and concern associated with it – that is assumed to explain why many women opt not to report menstrual pain.
I cannot prove there is a tie between the biology of a woman’s body and the still astonishingly few women leaders because I have not conducted the relevant research. Moreover, I readily acknowledge that there are many other factors that pertain. It’s also the case that some strides have been made – that there are many more women in positions of leadership than there were even a decade ago.
Still, there is no logic to excluding from the conversation physiological and psychological imperatives. Women have issues that pertain to their well-being that men do not. To hide these differences, or to assume without evidence that they have no impact whatsoever on women aspiring to, and assuming leadership roles, is counterproductive. Women can handle the truth.