For a long time, menopause has been a taboo subject. However, in recent decades, two things have changed simultaneously: women have started talking openly about their experiences, and companies have spotted an opportunity.
I am just a breath away from turning 40, and I can already feel it. Not menopause itself, but the changing social media landscape and its regrouping around topics that had previously been invisible. Initially, I thought the reels featuring exercises for menopausal women, cooking recipes for hormonal balance, and recommendations for supplements to reduce bloating and lower cholesterol were just a glitch in the results of my online searches.
However, I began to have doubts when I saw that the journalist Rebecca Seal from The Guardian had also noticed that the ads in her social media feeds had suddenly changed after she turned 40. Reading her list of themes that appear in her ads, it seems to me as though she is talking about the ads on my social media accounts: better sleep, mental clarity, energy, focus, and improved libido; stopping weight gain, anxiety, mood swings, irregular menstrual cycles, heavy periods, muscle aches, headaches, and indigestion; and lowering cortisol and blood sugar levels. Then again, it could have been journalist Eva Wiseman’s list—she noticed exactly the same thing.
My social media feed didn’t tell me, however, that this trend has already been confirmed by numerous economic analysts. The New York Times wrote about this in 2022, calling it a “menopause gold rush“, while Fortune cited a 2020 study by the Female Founders investment fund which found that “responding to the needs of women experiencing menopause is a $600 billion opportunity for companies“.
A business opportunity
According to a World Bank estimate, there are currently around 3.96 billion women in the world. A UN statistic (World Population Prospects, 2024) puts the female population at around 4.09 billion, representing 49.73% of the world’s population. Only two countries in the world have more men than women: India and China. If we exclude these two countries, though, the female population is larger than the male population in the rest of the world.
Another calculation, this time by the North American Menopause Society, suggests that approximately 1.1 billion women will have entered menopause by 2025. Many of these women currently control significant financial resources, prompting the tech, wellness, beauty, and pharmaceutical industries to view menopause as an untapped market.
Against this backdrop, several studies of the healthcare system, particularly in the United States, have revealed a widespread problem: doctors are not receiving adequate clinical training for the new social landscape. In a 2022 survey, directors of US ObGyn residency programmes complained about the lack of resources and standardised materials that they would like to see made available nationwide, preferably in digital format. Consequently, due to doctors not receiving adequate training in diagnosing and treating menopausal symptoms, women are not receiving the necessary support and are forced to manage the transition to this new stage of life independently. But what exactly do women need to manage during menopause?
Menopause is a stage of negotiation
Towards the end of their 40s, women’s bodies enter into a complex negotiation with time. Perimenopause, a transitional stage, signals that a woman is preparing to end the fertile chapter of her life. Ovulation becomes unpredictable and hormones fluctuate without any apparent pattern. After twelve months without menstruation, a woman receives the diagnosis: she has entered menopause.
However, “diagnosis” is a misnomer because menopause is not a disease, but a physiological stage followed by the postmenopausal period (after the age of 65). Clinically, menopause means that the ovaries have drastically reduced their production of oestrogen and progesterone, which controls the body’s monthly rhythm. On average, women enter menopause at around 51 years of age, although some experience it in their early 30s or late 50s. For around 1% of women, menopause occurs prematurely, before the age of 40. While perimenopause begins on average at around 47 years of age and can last four to five years, menopause can extend over decades. During this time, the decline in oestrogen levels continues to affect the body in subtle or dramatic ways.
Negative symptoms
According to the clinical guide “Menopause Therapy”, published by the Romanian Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Romanian College of Physicians, menopause is the period in every woman’s life marked by the permanent cessation of menstruation due to reduced ovarian hormone secretion. This can occur naturally or be induced by surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy, and is manifested by the appearance of specific symptoms.
– Vasomotor symptoms (VMS), such as hot flushes and night sweats, are common. They occur in 75–80% of women and can last an average of 7.4 years, sometimes persisting for over 10 years.
– Genitourinary symptoms include vaginal dryness, dyspareunia (pain during intercourse) and urinary incontinence, as well as recurrent infections. Dryness affects one-third of women, while approximately 40% experience dyspareunia.
– Sleep disturbances affect 40–50% of women, often as a consequence of VMS.
– Mood changes: irritability, anxiety, depression, and increased stress.
– Brain fog: memory and concentration difficulties and cognitive impairment.
– Decreased libido and pain during sexual intercourse.
– Metabolic and somatic disturbances:weight gain, lipid changes, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
– Bone loss leading to osteopenia and osteoporosis.
– Changes in the skin and mucous membranes (atrophy and loss of elasticity).
– Increased risk of breast, endometrial, ovarian, and colorectal cancer.
The big adjustment
As women experience a decline in oestrogen, they lose layers of biological protection for their bones, heart, skin, and brain. While medicine refers to this as the “cessation of ovarian function,” women experience a series of urgent adaptations.
Due to the loss of oestrogen, bone density decreases by almost 2% per year in the first five years after menopause and by around 1% per year thereafter. In everyday life, this translates into fragile joints, a more curved back, and an increased risk of falling.
The same oestrogen deficiency also causes cholesterol and triglyceride levels to rise, as well as increasing the risk of diabetes and coronary heart disease. The mind also undergoes a period of adjustment. The body must adapt to a new normal after the old hormonal metabolic balance disappears. This is why perimenopause, the grey area between “there” and “not yet,” is considered a vulnerable time. It is at this time that insomnia, sudden mood swings, and subtle memory loss appear. During menopause, women undoubtedly experience a decline in quality of life: sleep is fragmented, energy levels are low, patience is short, and the body seems to follow new, unknown rules.
It is precisely this angle of biological and psychological reconfiguration that the new “menopause market” exploits. However, one more ingredient was needed to make the market profitable.
A trillion-dollar customer base
According to a Nielsen report, women started controlling an estimated $31.8 trillion of global spending in 2024. This figure is expected to rise further: in the next five years, women around the world are predicted to control 75% of discretionary spending—that is, the money that families can allocate at their discretion beyond basic needs.
Women are increasingly the decision-makers for themselves and their families, and are estimated to influence between 70 and 80 per cent of all consumer decisions, from daily shopping to major investments.
For consumer goods brands and retailers, these statistics represent a transformation of the economy, in which women are no longer a niche category but a central force.
The “for menopause” version
In an article published by Harvard Health, two jars of night cream sit side by side on a store shelf in a mundane but revealing scene. Both are produced by the same company and contain similar ingredients, but one has a fuchsia label bearing the message “Skin Care for Menopause,” while the other, in shades of turquoise, is simply labelled “Advanced Night Cream.” The real difference lies in the price: the menopause version costs five dollars more—a 25% markup for the same product.
“If you’re taking virtually the same product, changing the label’s colours and wording to make it more appealing to midlife women, and selling it at a higher price, that’s predatory,” says Dr Jan Shifren, director of Midlife Women’s Health Center at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.
“We’re living longer, we’re aging better, we’re healthier, and we’re wealthier,” she continues. “Everyone has realised midlife women are a large group of consumers with money to spare, and it’s caught the attention of these product makers.” However, Dr Shifren offers a word of warning: “But midlife women need to know they’re a target now. We have to stay in a state of ‘buyer beware,’ or companies will try to take advantage of us.”
Menopause and the new wave of treatments
Hormone replacement therapy, which has been used for decades to relieve menopausal symptoms, has undergone a complete transformation in recent years, evolving from a medical recommendation to a consumer product. Promoted through telemedicine, subscriptions, and marketing campaigns, the new (old) product no longer talks about “therapy,” but “optimising midlife.” Specialised start-ups now deliver oestrogen and progesterone by mail, and pharmaceutical companies are launching non-hormonal treatments that target the nerve centres responsible for hot flushes. This suggests that menopause is increasingly being viewed as a condition that can be managed in the long term rather than simply endured.
At the same time, the market for dietary supplements has also grown rapidly. Herbal products such as isoflavones, black cohosh (Actaea racemosa), and ashwagandha promise to restore hormonal balance and improve sleep, energy levels, and overall well-being. Advertisements rely on the idea of “natural” and use a familiar, trustworthy tone. However, few clinical studies confirm the effectiveness of these supplements, and the market remains poorly regulated.
The gap left by the medical system has been filled by digital platforms dedicated to menopause. Popular apps monitor symptoms, offer online consultations, and create support communities. They provide quick access to information and specialists, as well as a form of psychological comfort. These services are most often available on a subscription basis, providing a private solution to a public health problem.
The beauty industry has also adapted. Large companies are launching “menopause care” ranges that are almost identical to anti-ageing products but more expensive, and which are promoted as symbols of female empowerment. Meanwhile, the technology sector is offering wearable devices that promise to alleviate hot flushes, regulate sleep, and monitor mood.
Menopause as a lesson in lucidity
In this context, the distinction between genuine assistance, marketing, and exploitation is becoming increasingly blurred. Where does care end and exploitation begin? Medicine has left a void, and the economy has rushed to fill it. A complete circle has essentially been created: women experience the change, the industry offers them a product that “helps” them, they buy it, the industry reinvests in targeted advertising, and the cycle repeats itself.
What should be a natural stage of life has become a market. The question that remains is whether women going through menopause have in fact been put back in the position of having to fend for themselves amid the abundance of products and services tailor-made for and marketed specifically to them.
Amid the noise of offers, it is easy to lose sight of something essential: beyond all the more or less effective and economically motivated strategies, menopause is a sign that time is passing. This passing, however subtle, forces us to consider the meaning of life more closely. If we turn this stage into a competition of products, we risk missing its true significance. For women who reach this point, menopause is not a loss, but a revelation: a body that can no longer do everything is still a body bearing the imprint of God. Where there is God, even fragility becomes a source of grace.
