From workplace culture to mainstream media: the menopause conversation in 2026

By Maria Martin

From some of the most famous faces in the industry, such as Zoe Ball and Davina McCall, to broadcasters, doctors, campaigners, authors, and soap characters, menopause is being discussed in more places than ever.

It has also moved a long way from the euphemistic ‘change’ of previous generations. In 2026, it is a subject being discussed on podcasts, in workplaces, on social media and in some of the UK’s most popular television shows.

Celebrities are talking about their own experiences, campaigners are challenging workplace taboos, and healthcare professionals are trying to cut through a growing volume of online information. What is changing is not simply the amount of discussion, but where it is happening and who is talking about it.

Here are some of the voices and platforms helping to shape that conversation in 2026.

Liz Earle: making menopause part of the wellbeing conversation

Liz Earle MBE has spent decades building an audience around health and wellbeing, making her a natural fit for a subject focused on physical health, lifestyle, and ageing.

Earle is a founding ambassador of The Menopause Charity and the author of The Good Menopause Guide. The charity describes her as a ‘trusted and respected authority on wellbeing’ across broadcast, print and social media.

Her role shows how menopause can be discussed outside the usual medical or workplace context. It can also be part of a broader conversation about wellbeing and how people want to live through midlife and beyond.

Dr Nighat Arif: putting clinical expertise into mainstream media

Dr Nighat Arif occupies a different position. A GP and resident doctor on BBC Breakfast and ITV This Morning, she brings medical expertise to audiences accustomed to receiving health information through mainstream television.

She is also a healthcare ambassador for Wellbeing of Women. The charity has used her in campaigns including its Let’s #ChatMenopause initiative, where she spoke about the need to tackle stigma and taboo around menopause, including within Black and Asian communities. That combination of clinical expertise and broadcast experience matters as social media becomes an increasingly important source of health information.

Carol Vorderman: taking menopause into the policy debate

Carol Vorderman brings another dimension: campaigning. As a broadcaster and author, Vorderman has spoken publicly about her experience of perimenopause and has become an advocate for better menopause provision. Menopause Mandate lists her as one of its patrons, while Wellbeing of Women lists her as an ambassador.

Her advocacy shows how a personal experience can develop into a broader policy campaign. Rather than keeping menopause within the confines of individual symptoms and treatment, campaigners such as Vorderman have helped connect it to questions about healthcare, research and the support available to women.

It also makes the role of an ambassador more complicated. Campaigners are not simply lending their names to an organisation. They have their own reasons for being involved, as well as their own audiences, views and priorities. That can make a partnership more powerful, but it also means organisations need to be clear about what they are asking an ambassador to represent.

Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley: making menopause part of everyday conversation

Zoe Ball has been open about her experience of menopause for several years. Menopause has become a recurring subject on Dig It, her podcast with Jo Whiley, with the pair approaching it in the same candid, conversational style they use for other aspects of getting older.

In July, they announced plans for a ‘Meno-play’, a menopause playlist featuring songs reflecting different symptoms and moods. It is light-hearted, but that is part of its appeal. Menopause becomes something that can be discussed without every conversation having to sound like a health campaign. Not every chat about a serious subject needs to have a serious tone. Familiar voices and ordinary language can make an issue feel less like a campaign and more like part of everyday life.

Davina McCall: turning personal experience into public advocacy

It is difficult to talk about menopause without mentioning Davina McCall. Her documentaries and 2022 book Menopausing helped bring menopause into mainstream discussion, while her willingness to talk about her own symptoms has made her a recognisable advocate for better understanding and support. Earlier this year, McCall backed a new workplace menopause kit, MENO-Kit, launched by Lancaster University. Designed to support whole organisations, MENO-Kit is a multimedia resource for managers, HR and Occupational Health teams, EDI leads, trade unions and employees. It includes four practical modules covering menopause awareness, symptom management, menopause champion training and cognitive behavioural strategies.

McCall’s approach to menopause shows the value of connecting lived experience with expert voices and policy questions. Personal experience can open the door to a conversation, but credible information gives audiences somewhere useful to go next. It matters when a public figure is used to discuss health or social issues.

Dannie-Lu Carr: bringing menopause into the workplace

Dannie-Lu Carr is an especially relevant voice for the PR and communications profession. Carr, an executive coach, trainer and writer, has written for Influence about the intersection between perimenopause and neurodivergence at work. Her work looks at how workplace cultures built around speed, resilience and constant availability can create particular difficulties for people experiencing perimenopause.

It moves beyond symptoms and treatment into questions about leadership, inclusion, working culture and performance. It also gives communicators a more relevant way of thinking about menopause. The issue is not confined to healthcare communications or consumer campaigns. It can affect how organisations support people, how managers communicate and how employees experience their working lives.

Soap operas bringing menopause into familiar lives

Another example of menopause moving more into the mainstream this year was on EastEnders. Honey Mitchell's 2026 storyline explored changes in her mood and behaviour and whether they could be linked to menopause. She sought medical advice but was left feeling that her concerns were not being properly heard.

This storyline is important because it does not require viewers to have searched for menopause information or chosen to follow a particular influencer. It reaches people through a character they already know.

That is one reason issue-based soap storylines have become such an interesting communications tool. Charities and other organisations can work with soap producers to improve accuracy, provide expert advice and build awareness around a storyline while retaining the dramatic needs of the programme.

There is a long history of this approach. Coronation Street has explored menopause through Faye Windass, who was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure, while Emmerdale has also addressed menopause through its characters.

More recently, Coronation Street used menopause as part of the story surrounding Debbie Webster's memory problems. Debbie initially believed her symptoms could be related to menopause before doctors raised concerns about early-onset dementia. The plot demonstrates another useful point: sometimes the value of a storyline lies in challenging an assumption rather than simply raising awareness of a condition.

A well-researched storyline can give charities and campaigners several opportunities to communicate: before airing, when the story is previewed, during the storyline, and afterwards, when viewers may be looking for information or support.

From awareness raising to institutional change

There is another stage in the menopause conversation that is perhaps less visible than a celebrity interview or a soap storyline: what happens when awareness starts to become institutional practice.

In 2026, that shift is becoming increasingly apparent in the workplace. From April, employers with 250 or more employees can publish an action plan alongside their gender pay gap data, setting out steps they are taking to support employees experiencing menopause. The plans are currently voluntary, but subject to legislation they are expected to become mandatory from spring 2027.

That is a significant change in the communications challenge. Once an issue becomes part of organisational policy, the question becomes whether the organisation's systems reflect the message it is communicating.

For employers, and as per the government’s recommended actions, that might mean moving from a one-off menopause webinar to manager training, workplace adjustments or changes to flexible working and absence policies. For communicators, it means thinking about how internal communications, employee experience and external reputation connect. A company can talk confidently about supporting women at work, but employees will ultimately experience that commitment through their manager, workplace environment and access to practical support.

The conversation also needs to involve HR teams, managers, policymakers, healthcare professionals, employees and senior leaders, each with different expectations of what meaningful support looks like.

This could pose another risk. The more established menopause becomes as a workplace and policy issue, the easier it is for it to become another corporate initiative rather than a meaningful change in culture. There is a difference between having a menopause policy and creating a workplace in which people feel able to ask for support.

More organisations are trying to respond to menopause, and that makes credibility important. People are navigating information about menopause across multiple channels, and the line between health advice and marketing is not always clear. Celebrities can make an issue visible. Doctors can add clinical context. Campaigners can push it into policy debates. Workplace advocates can turn awareness into changes in working culture. Soap storylines can reach audiences who would never actively seek out information. Each plays a different role in moving an issue from public discussion towards practical change.

What communicators can learn

The strongest public conversations rarely come from a single campaign or channel. For communicators, the opportunity is to think beyond awareness. Who needs to hear the message? Where do they already spend their time? Who do they trust? And what happens after someone has heard it?

Menopause is now firmly part of mainstream culture. The more interesting question for PR is what happens next, and whether communications can help make that conversation more informed, inclusive and useful.

Maria Martin is a digital editor, freelance writer specialising in travel features, wellness and business.