More than 40 percent of female workers are at least 45, the age at which women typically transition to menopause (though some studies suggest that women of color might begin earlier). That shift — marking the end of a woman’s reproductive years — is characterized by an array of symptoms, from insomnia to hot flashes and brain fog. In large part, the symptoms can be debilitating because there are few effective treatment options and there is very little research into why and how menopause changes the body.

Despite the high cost and common experience of menopause, it has mostly been ignored in the workplace. A 2023 survey by Bank of America found that 58 percent of women felt uncomfortable talking about menopause at work because it seemed too personal and because they worried they might be judged by co-workers.

But as more women enter senior leadership positions, that is changing, said Max Landry, the co-chief executive of Peppy. “The women who are going to go through menopause over the next five to 10 years are not going to accept this in a way that my mother’s generation did,” he said.

Some legal experts say existing laws may require companies to make accommodations for menopause, which could go beyond menopause-specific care benefits to include schedule flexibility or spaces for cooling down. These laws include the new Pregnant Workers Fairness Act that went into effect in June, said Liz Morris, the deputy director at the Center for WorkLife Law, an advocacy and research organization at the University of California College of the Law. That law mandates employers to provide accommodations for workers experiencing pregnancy, postpartum recovery and “related medical conditions,” which, Ms. Morris argued, could include the end of fertility.

Regardless of whether that so far untested argument holds up in court, corporate benefits won’t be enough, said Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, the executive director of the New York University School of Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center. She said that both further research that can help prevent symptoms in the first place and laws that explicitly ban discrimination are needed.

Corporate benefits, Ms. Weiss-Wolf said, are, at best, “just scratching at the surface.”