Endometriosis is not only a painful health condition, but for some women it is becoming a career-limiting one. In the UK, campaigners say the illness is contributing to women leaving jobs, reducing hours or changing professions after years of missed diagnoses, repeated hospital visits and unmanaged pain. According to the report, one in six women with endometriosis are estimated to leave the workplace because of the condition.
Carla Cressy’s experience shows how quickly the illness can disrupt working life. She modelled from childhood, but began collapsing on shoots and could no longer continue. Her symptoms started when she was 13, yet she was not diagnosed until age 25. Before that, doctors removed her appendix and repeatedly treated her for other problems, including constipation and suspected stomach bugs. She later retrained as a beauty therapist, saying she felt unreliable and unemployable. After surgery, her untreated endometriosis had progressed to frozen pelvis disease, requiring bladder reconstruction and a total hysterectomy. She has frozen her eggs, but says she will need surrogacy if she has children.
Abi Smith, 27, has faced a similar pattern of pain and delay. She was given a gut health yoghurt at 10 when she complained of pelvic pain, and once her periods began the symptoms became severe. She said she had to serve customers in the post office while hunched over, vomiting into a bin and rushing to the toilet. She was diagnosed only at 21 and is now on her third medically induced menopause to help control the condition. After three unsuccessful applications for disability benefits, she is working as a sales administrator and says she has little choice but to keep going.
Workplace impact and policy gap
Experts say the effects go beyond physical pain. Psychotherapist Dr Sula Windgassen said many women are dismissed when they seek help and are told their symptoms are imagined. She said the combination of severe pain and not being believed can be deeply damaging, often forcing people to consider alternative careers, hybrid roles or other ways of staying employed. Some, she noted, spend hours each morning recovering from the pain of something as basic as using the toilet.
The issue is now under scrutiny through an ongoing inquiry into how endometriosis affects women at work. But campaigners say the policy response is still limited. There is no UK law specifically ensuring fair treatment for workers with menstrual health conditions when they need time off. For women living with endometriosis, that gap can mean lost income, stalled careers and, in some cases, being pushed out of the workplace altogether.
Source: bbc.co.uk
