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The Equal Rights Amendment Can Strengthen the Menopausal Workers' Fairness Act

For decades, women and people who menstruate have been forced to navigate a systemic barrier in the U.S. workforce: the physical realities of aging bodies. The symptoms of perimenopause and menopause have been minimized, joked about, and treated as private burdens. This summer, a new bill in Congress has put that burden on the table — it's time for the workplace to change. On July 14, 2026, U.S. Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Yvette Clarke (D-NY) introduced the Menopausal Workers' Fairness Act in the House. The bill would create an explicit federal right to reasonable workplace accommodations for menopause-related symptoms, targeting the economic security and workplace safety of the millions of experienced workers navigating menopause. It has not yet passed — it still needs to clear committee, the House, and the Senate before it could become law — but its introduction alone marks a significant step: menopause has never before had its own line in federal workplace law.

The Reality

Menopause affects a substantial share of the workforce, yet workplace policies in the U.S have historically been designed around a younger labor force. When workers experience debilitating symptoms — such as severe hot flashes and sleep deprivation — the lack of simple accommodations can take a heavy toll. Advocates for the bill argue that unmanaged symptoms and workplace stigma push a significant number of senior-level workers to reduce their hours, pass up promotions, or leave the workforce during their peak earning years — widening the gender pay gap and costing the broader economy. (Note: figures on prevalence and workforce impact vary by source — worth citing a specific study, such as Mayo Clinic's 2023 workforce research, before publishing.) The bill aims to protect workers experiencing menopause by requiring reasonable accommodations — such as flexible scheduling and uniform flexibility — and by prohibiting retaliation against workers who request them. Modeled on the enforcement structure of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, it would apply to employers with 15 or more employees and route enforcement through EEOC charges and Title VII-style remedies.

Why Legislation Isn't Enough

While the introduction of this bill is a significant step forward, it also exposes a deeper flaw in how the country currently handles sex discrimination. Workplace protections for women exist today as a patchwork of statutes — what one Congress grants, a future Congress or the Supreme Court can take away. Statutory protections have been narrowed by judicial interpretation and enforcement gaps before. Without explicit constitutional grounding, laws targeting sex-specific health issues like pregnancy and menopause often face uphill battles in federal court. Because the Constitution does not explicitly name sex as a protected class, lawmakers and courts have had to build that protection through indirect legal reasoning rather than a direct constitutional guarantee. That gap isn't just theoretical. The Equal Rights Amendment — which would bar the denial of rights "on account of sex" — has met the 38-state ratification threshold set out in Article V, but it still hasn't been certified or published as part of the Constitution. The National Archivist has declined to do so, citing the 1982 ratification deadline set by Congress, and the amendment's status remains the subject of active litigation and political dispute.

How the ERA Would Strengthen the Menopausal Workers' Fairness Act

Enshrining sex equality directly in the Constitution would subject sex discrimination to a stricter standard of judicial review, offer protections that outlast any single Congress, and support a more holistic view of equality. Advocating for the Menopausal Workers' Fairness Act and pushing for the ERA's recognition are two sides of the same coin. Durable economic justice and workplace equality are hard to secure while the underlying constitutional question stays unresolved. Together, these two efforts point toward a workforce — and a country — that leaves no one behind.

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