Menopause Around the World: A Fresh Perspective

By Valerie | February 4, 2026

Ever get the sense you're approaching some sort of post-period twilight zone and whether or not there's a way out?

Attitudes in the West are gradually picking up (arguably). At the very least, we are putting up a good fight to get our voices heard. The ‘M’ word seems to be on people’s lips perhaps more freely than it has ever been before. But, even if you think about how far we have come, there’s still a lot of work to do.

That’s because, fundamentally, the West sees menopause differently to some other cultures around the world.

From them we have a lot to learn about our own attitudes to midlife as women, and as the unique and wonderful beings we are beyond the confines of our child-bearing years.

So, strap in and fasten your seatbelt. We’re taking you globe-trotting…

Let’s start with the West: where menopause is still something to “deal with”

Yes, you’re probably familiar with this one.

Because, however ‘progressive’ our society is trying to be, in a deeper more ingrained sense, there remains an undercurrent of discomfort deeply worn in from generations past. It’s difficult to escape from.

The result? Let’s just say it how it is. In Western culture there remains an attitude for treating midlife women in an ugly, dismissive fashion. Like a bad hangover, we cannot seem to shift it completely.

The language we have to express this speaks volumes. The Greek root of the word “menopause” actually translates as “monthly pause (1)”.

Do we want to be put on pause?

Not exactly a word that fills the heart with optimism, is it?

You’ll be glad to know then, that other cultures may be able to offer a more inspirational attitude. One that’s less about decline, and more about power, a celebration of the beauty of transition.

Let’s take a proper look.

In Japan, menopause is a time of regeneration

Words are powerful. They slip into our subconscious and tell us how to feel about things.

Culturally, the contrast in words around menopause is quite astonishing. And, in some cases, pleasantly refreshing.

The Japanese word for menopause is konenki (2), and this one has layers.

“Ko” means renewal or regeneration, “nen” means year, and “ki” means energy or season. Put it all together and you’ve got something far more poetic than “monthly pause”.

It represents a full arc, a transformation welcomed rather than feared (3), and in stark contrast to the often negative, medicalised view in many Western societies.

Hormone balance vs hormone depletion

It is also interesting that, until recently, there wasn’t actually any specific phrasing in Japanese for “hot flush” (4). Previously, the language had clear terms for things like the heat from a bath or similar states of being a bit hot and sweaty, but nothing for menopausal hot flushes. In recent decades, Japanese media leaned on the Western term and transliterated hot flush into hotto furasshu, along with horumon baransu (meaning hormone balance).This could have something to do with the statistics too. Only around 25-53% (5) of Japanese women report getting hot flushes, compared to over 70-80% (6) of Western women.Going even deeper, in Japan, the frequently used term hormone balance doesn’t focus on depletion as it does in the West (as in ‘oestrogen-depletion’). Therefore, there’s far less obsession with oestrogen decline or a sense of loss in general. The approach isn’t about trying to change the menopausal experience or cling onto who you were before. More so about staying aligned with how it is right now.

Menopause minus the melodrama: Welcome to the Mayan perspective

In rural regions of Guatemala and Chichimilá in the Yucatán peninsula, modern-day Mayan communities continue to thrive, and their experience of menopause has drawn some attention.

When researchers interviewed Mayan women in these areas, they uncovered something: many of them didn’t report “classic” menopausal symptoms like hot flushes, mood swings or insomnia. In fact, a surprising number of women struggled to recall any significant symptoms at all (7).

And, in cases where symptoms are present, they’re seen more as simply being part of life, not like having a disease of some sort.

For those of us lying in bed at night burning up one minute and freezing the next, that particular take on menopause can feel quite hard to imagine. But it says something about the power that lies within our perspective.

Or, it may have something to do with our lifestyle.

What’s the reason for this difference in experience?

The women studied hit menopause at around 44 years old (8), with similar (FSH) hormone levels to North American women, and yet, it could be said that their experiences couldn’t be more different.

At present, the reason for this is not entirely clear. We cannot truly pinpoint it to one thing. But it’s been suggested that body weight, activity level, diet and cultural attitudes could play a role.

Mayan women eat a natural, plant-rich diet and have a slower-paced lifestyle with fewer sources of overstimulation and stress.

What if menopause isn’t the problem?

Despite the differences, and in comparison to the West, there appears to be less language of decline to imply this stage marks the start of something going wrong.

Here, women in midlife talk of finding a newfound freedom, shedding previous expectations, gaining social status. Some of these women even expressed that they ‘look forward’ to the midlife stage for these very reasons.

In many communities, postmenopausal women become spiritual leaders or respected guides, and are generally regarded as wise.

It is worth pointing out, however, that each community varies to the next. For example, Guatemalan Mayans do not talk freely of menstruation or menopause. And, according to the researchers, the numbers involved in the studies (compared to Western cohorts) were small.

So, what can we take from this?

Western medicine has long reduced menopause to a prescriptive and pragmatic puzzle.

But the Mayan perspective reminds us there’s much more at play. It sheds light on things like good nutrition, cultural values and lived experience.

And perhaps most importantly, that menopause isn’t treated solely as a biological event, it’s understood within the context of rich tradition and status.

In Indigenous and shamanic cultures, menopause unlocks a new power

From the Cree women in Canada to the Maori in New Zealand, menopause is far from taboo. It is viewed as a rite of passage into places of leadership.

In these cultures (9), women go through menopause before stepping into influential roles.

Wise blood

It’s a beautiful, common thread in many Indigenous cultures: menstrual blood is seen as life-giving, sacred, and powerful, transforming into "wise blood (10)" after menopause, granting spiritual authority, healing knowledge and leadership.

As a result, these women (wāhine) are revered as life-makers and the elders of which gain significant spiritual power. This contradicts colonial influences that have long imposed shame, still entrenched in modern conceptions of menstrual blood.

However, it is also worth flagging that stigma toward menstruation and menopause exists within some Indigenous communities.

The grandmother hypothesis

The grandmother hypothesis, one proposed by anthropologists, suggests that human survival was supported by women who lived well beyond their fertile years (11).

Once they stopped having children, they could help raise grandchildren and support their communities. It’s thought this ‘evolutionary advantage’ (12) made human post-menopausal life spans longer than any other primates.

Allow us to have a mic drop moment… Because when you frame it like that, it is a pretty remarkable argument.

Post-menopausal women really are the underpinning behind human progress of all kinds. And in every corner of the globe, a similar narrative plays out.

We’re the builders, the sustainers, and menopause doesn’t change that.

China and the second spring

In China, menopause is commonly known as a “second spring (13)”, and it’s usually treated as something both normal and natural.

There is also a wide-spread understanding that a woman’s role does not disappear with age. Older women are often respected, trusted, and listened to.

Menopause is rarely seen as the headline event of midlife.

That could be because support for (peri)menopausal women tends to come from familiar routines.

Wisdom, creativity and self-nourishment

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) (14) philosophy, the energy and blood that were previously used for menstruation and reproduction are redirected inward to the heart. It is repurposed to nourish her own body, creativity, and spirit.

TCM is used for menopausal symptoms in women in most Asian countries, including China, Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea.

Prioritising wellbeing

Food, rest, gentle movement, and traditional practices come first and foremost and are built into daily life, not simply added in as an adjunct.

Women turn to what they know and trust in order to stay in good health. Meals that suit the body, herbs that have been used for generations, treatments like acupuncture, and slow, sustaining movement like Tai Chi or Qigong.

So they are not fighting the body through all its innate processes, but, rather, gently guiding it.

Menopause isn’t a one-size-fits-all

The hormonal changes behind menopause are pretty much the same all over the world. But how we feel them or ‘treat’ them? That goes a step beyond.

While the underlying hormonal changes of menopause are biologically universal (primarily driven by the gradual drop in oestrogen and progesterone production), how women experience these changes varies across cultures and genetics, too.

As we have discussed, there are significant differences in how those symptoms are perceived, managed and even named. So, things like language and variations in the social expectations of menopause are also major factors.

Symptoms speak volumes

As we covered earlier, hot flushes, for example, are often considered the textbook menopause symptom. But there are variations here too, Black women experience them earlier, more intensely and for longer than white women. And, in Japan, hot flushes are seemingly rare. So much so that, until recently, they did not have a specific name and needed to invent the term, hotto furasshu, just to describe them.

Elsewhere, South Asian and Filipino women tend to experience (15) joint pain, body aches and vaginal dryness as their most prominent symptoms, over the flushes.

Native American women often report fatigue, brain fog and sleep disruption. And the age of onset can vary significantly. In parts of India and Pakistan, the average is closer to 46 (16), while Black women studied in the US often enter menopause earlier than white women, and stay in the transition for longer.

We dedicated an article to this very topic. So if you want to find out more, read How Ethnicity Shapes the Perimenopause.

So no, there isn’t one version of menopause. Far from it.

And trying to squeeze every woman into a single framework has only ever led to confusion, frustration, and a woeful feeling of being under-supported. We need more curiosity, more context, and more space to explore all the different ways this can look and feel.

Symptoms aren’t the only thing that varies

In cultures where older women are respected and seen as wise, or where menopause is viewed as a natural and even beneficial progression, women tend to have fewer or less bothersome symptoms.

The Japanese term konenki combines the ideas of renewal, seasonality and energy. And menopause is often viewed positively as a time of liberation and increased social standing, rather than a negative experience or loss of femininity or power.

The comparison doesn’t end there. We could go on. So many cultures put a positive spin on menopause. And we’re here for it.

Let’s embrace the future with an open, optimistic outlook and a cup that’s full.

(Cheers to that!)

A transformation into the most powerful version of ourselves can be exactly what midlife represents.

As the research shows, our symptoms don’t necessarily exist in a vacuum. They may be influenced by what we eat, how we live, what we expect and how we’re treated or viewed by others.

But what if we stop waiting for (peri)menopause to “end” and start asking what it might be here to teach us? We could stay curious, open and optimistic.

An energy, that if we can channel it, could begin to have a butterfly effect more powerful than we could even predict.

Maybe it’s time we turned the dial and tuned in to a more positive version of perimenopause.

There’s a power in questioning the story we’ve been sold

Look closer, and there is also an overarching theme from cultures that prioritise togetherness.

Being that there’s no shame in needing a form of support, whether that’s from a loyal community, from great nutrition, modern medicine or feel-good movement. So let’s keep the convo going and tell your mates…

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