Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Zannat Reza: Fun fact. When women are healthy, it's great for the economy. Yes, that's right. In fact, women's health doesn't affect just women. It has a ripple effect that touches everyone. Their families, communities, and even the workplace. But what do we really know about women's health needs? Why is there a big gap in funding and research to support innovation like femtech ? And what are the benefits of paying more attention to women's health issues like menopause? I'm Zannat Reza. Welcome to The Future Age podcast, where we explore bold ideas and creative solutions in reimagining life as we get older.

[00:00:37] Today, I'm chatting with two special guests who are at the forefront of innovation in women's health. First up is Rachel Bartholomew, advisory board member at Femtech Canada and founder and CEO of Hyivy Health. We're talking about the opportunities and challenges within Canada and North America's healthcare tech sector, focusing on femtech innovations. Later on, you'll hear from Deborah Garlick, who discusses the growing movement in the UK to take the mystery out of menopause and create supportive workplaces. So let's dive in.

[00:01:06] I start off by asking Rachel to explain what femtech is.

[00:01:12] Rachel Bartholomew: Good question. So we define femtech as innovative solutions and services that service women or anyone who identifies as women. This is focused on health specifically, so it has to be healthcare for women or women identifying. It's really about the innovative solutions and services that can help advance and make change to those healthcare solutions.

[00:01:39] Zannat Reza: I asked Rachel how innovation from femtech can push the needle forward in providing solutions for women experiencing healthcare challenges.

[00:01:47] Rachel Bartholomew: Women's health as a whole is astronomically far behind. The reason is, is because women were not a part of clinical trials or mandatory as a part of clinical trials up until early 90s.

[00:02:01] And so what essentially has happened is fundamental groundwork on the drugs, the devices, the innovations, the services, and how we even treat our female patients largely hasn't been properly researched. And so I think that has been a big catalyst to bringing this forward. And this need for innovations in women's health, because how do you make that change?

[00:02:26] Well, you got to shake up the infrastructure that it was built on from the first place. And that's really what innovation's here to do. Femtech really fills those gaps and trying to push that needle forward in providing these solutions for women who are going through healthcare challenges that solely or disproportionately affect them.

[00:02:45] Zannat Reza: Can you tell me a little bit about Hyivy?

[00:02:49] Rachel Bartholomew: Yeah, for sure. So I created Hyivy four years ago. I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. I was twenty-eight at the time. Came out of left field. Very interesting journey and still in it. But essentially, I went into treatment very quickly, identified a couple of things. And one of them particularly was this device that everyone had to use for up to five years post cancer every single day.

[00:03:15] And this device is, uh, eighty-four years old. It was created by a man in 1938. It is the international standard of care globally for cancer patients in gynecology and colorectal. And women have to use this thing every single day. I just looked at this and I was like, this is the most inhumane thing I've ever seen. I can innovate on this.

[00:03:36] So we've innovated on the vaginal dilator, and we have created a device that conducts multiple therapies. Dilation, hot and cold, like you would anywhere else on the body when you have sore muscles, and drug delivery. And that is all monitored with a number of biosensors. And the really cool thing about that has been, we integrated those biosensors to understand the progress women were making, but realized very quickly that it was telling us data and showing us data trends that we have no idea what it means.

[00:04:08] Zannat Reza: Rachel continues to share some of the frustrations and obstacles that the femtech industry faces. For example, here in Canada, eighty-five percent of companies are run by women led founders. However, the statistics show us that only about two percent of venture capital and angel money goes to these companies. Perhaps it has to do with pitching to a room full of mostly men who will never experience women's health challenges. Clearly, there's a need for education.

[00:04:34] Rachel's the founder and lead advisor for Femtech Canada. I wanted to know what motivated her to create this organization and what kind of activities they do.

[00:04:43] Rachel Bartholomew: I created Femtech Canada when I was out fundraising for my own startup, Hyivy. I was dealing with the challenges that we kind of talked about just now. And realized very quickly that I needed others to talk to about these challenges. How were they navigating it? How were they going through that process? It was actually over an Easter long weekend back in 2021. I just sat there and I researched. And I pulled together fifty-one companies and I categorized them.

[00:05:13] I did some research into the amount of funding that they had received and I pulled them together just in the Slack channel. And we started talking and helping each other and that community, of course, started to grow as we started to learn more about all the other women's health initiatives. We're now working on the next stage of just actually bringing national programming across Canada, bringing funding into this space and partnering with some of the funding partners, hospitals, those types of groups for the next kind of stage of funding. So you're catching us at the very beginning of a lot of things that are being cooked up.

[00:05:47] Zannat Reza: Rachel wants to see femtech expand globally, and while she says there's a shift in mindset happening, more investment is needed. Her mission is to promote and support femtech beyond North America.

[00:05:58] Rachel Bartholomew: I do actually run a group called Femtech Across Borders, where we have eighteen countries together working on femtech initiatives and helping each other grow and get this education out there. Our role to get that out there to our investment community is to get that out there to the rest of the population to advance these conversations. So we're getting there, but we have a long way to go.

[00:06:21] Zannat Reza: One thing that really stands out for me is the role advocacy plays. The more we can get behind women's health issues, the more innovation and accessibility we can expect to see. Rachel and her community have been writing letters of support and developing strategies to encourage our government to commit more funding for femtech. I wondered what other ways advocacy needed to happen.

[00:06:41] Rachel Bartholomew: Oh, there's so much, so much work to do. I have a, I have a word document of all the things that I would love to change for women's health in Canada. Things like access to public health, demonstration products, having more of our insurance, you know, landscape focused on menopause in the workplace.

[00:07:00] There's so many different things that, that can be done. The lobbying piece is a, a piece that I am learning right now and trying to understand a bit more, especially since we are now out pulling together a hundred million dollar strategy for the federal government towards women's health.

[00:07:17] Zannat Reza: Advocacy also needs the right data to support it. That's the goal of Women's Age Lab at Women's College Hospital. It focuses on women's health research and promotes the collection of data that can be sorted by age and sex. This will go a long way to close the data gap and address the unique health and well-being needs of women. My final question for Rachel is her thoughts on the biggest opportunities in femtech in the coming years.

[00:07:42] Rachel Bartholomew: When I look at Canada specifically, we have very large gaps in menopause and I think menopause is starting to become this really hot conversation where women are at the, you know, critical points in their lives where they are killing it in their career. And to think that workplaces don't have a good understanding of that.

[00:08:05] To our healthcare system, I mean, I have been working day and night trying to find menopause researchers and they just don't exist. So I think there's so much opportunity there. We have a couple companies now that are, are starting to work in that space, but not enough. And same with mental health for women specifically.

[00:08:23] Things like postpartum depression, you know, premenstrual syndromes and you know, the effects of mental health with hormone change. These are all things that we just don't know anything about.

[00:08:34] Zannat Reza: Rachel encourages women to pursue careers in the rapidly growing femtech field despite its challenges. She advises them to build communities, find mentors, and innovate to help fill gaps. With increased focus and funding in femtech, now is the perfect time to get involved and help shape the future of women's health.

[00:08:52] Now let's travel across the pond to the UK, where we're seeing a shift in one critical area of women's health, menopause. I spoke to Deborah Garlick, who's the director of Menopause Friendly UK and the founder of Henpicked. She shares how the conversation around menopause is growing in a positive way to help women stay in the workforce.

[00:09:13] Deborah Garlick: I never anticipated that this was going to be part of my career or my big passion, but when I started to talk about menopause and when I started to publish articles about menopause, I was both surprised and a little bit disturbed about how many people came forward and said, I don't know anything about this, I'm not getting any support. So there really was a mystery about the menopause.

[00:09:39] The idea of taking menopause into the workplace and talking to employers, helping them understand their obligations, and also the huge opportunity of changing the lives and the lived experience of people in the workplace has been my, well, so it's my first waking thought and my last one at night. We often see the statistic menopause affects half of the population. It really doesn't. It affects us all. It affects half of us firsthand and the other half through our relationships, whether that's a friend, partner, family member, colleague.

[00:10:15] If we normalize menopause conversations and help people appreciate, this is what it is, this is what you can do about it, we can minimize the impact. And we're making huge progress in the UK. There's still a lot to do, but it's great to be able to make such a big difference to people. I'm over the moon to see how many people are actually joining in this conversation now to take away the mystique.

[00:10:39] Zannat Reza: Well, I have to say, I think the UK is miles ahead of us in Canada. So congrats for all the work that you're doing. We're just kind of on that cusp of thinking about menopause in the workplace. We're making small steps, but I'm hoping that this is going to ramp up, especially after this podcast interview.

[00:10:58] So, can you tell me a little bit about Henpicked and also just generally, how does menopause affect women professionally in the workplace?

[00:11:07] Deborah Garlick: A little bit about Henpicked. We are, we're specializing in menopause in the workplace. We're about education, training, raising the awareness and supporting employers in, in changing their workplace culture. And also looking at the environment and saying, what can you do to make the environment better?

[00:11:28] But I think the biggest learning overall has been that it's not as hard for employers to do this as many think it is. It's usually easy steps that they can take, and it doesn't cost a lot. I'll always talk to employers about, actually, not only is this good for individuals, this helps you be a great place to work, but it actually does save you money.

[00:11:51] Zannat Reza: I asked Deborah how employees can advocate for themselves if they work in an organization that doesn't have menopause policy.

[00:11:59] Deborah Garlick: Many employers start this from their equality, diversity, and inclusion agenda. Many start it from the well-being agenda. Uh, sometimes it's a passionate individual that will start to ask questions of their HR team to be clear about what we're doing in workplaces.

[00:12:19] This isn't a, we call it a once and done. This is significant cultural change that we're talking about. We mentioned mysteries earlier, but there has been a lot of stigma and taboo around the menopause. People were sort of very worried about talking about menopause, you know, in a culture that reveres youth and beauty. And for those that have fought hard to get to where they want to on the career ladder, many people can feel anxious about asking or appearing to look like, well, maybe they, they, I'm not up to my job anymore if I'm experiencing menopause. Some cultures don't like to talk about menopause. It's something we just don't do. Or some people thinking it's just too personal a conversation to have at work.

[00:13:04] Zannat Reza: Deborah goes on to say, employers need to recognize that menopause could be affecting their ability to recruit and retain talent. And this might be why they aren't seeing women on boards and in senior positions. In fact, one in ten women in the UK leave work during menopause. And that's because they may have children at home, they may also be caregivers to aging parents, and they have senior level jobs with a lot of responsibility.

[00:13:27] Then along comes menopause and something has to give, which is usually when we see women leave the workforce causing a talent drain for companies. Layer in the fact that many women still don't understand menopause and how it could impact their health and careers. So by putting policies in place to support them, employers can help women improve their productivity at work.

[00:13:47] Deborah Garlick: Very few people know some of the very basic facts about menopause, perimenopause, when our bodies start to change, which is when we can start to experience symptoms. And actually, I think that is the most mysterious stage of them all because your periods might be the same, but you might start to experience hot flushes.

[00:14:08] So appreciating this as a transition, which happens over many years is important. When you put that in context of where is that in our careers, for many of us might be at the heart of our careers. In most senior positions, it's not always hot flushes that women say affect them most at work. And many people talk about brain fog, difficulty concentrating, anxiety and worry, difficulty sleeping.

[00:14:38] Zannat Reza: Can you speak to some success stories or best practices from organizations that are menopause friendly?

[00:14:44] Deborah Garlick: Awareness is absolutely key around breaking down the barriers of not feeling comfortable talking about menopause or not feeling confident asking for help if you need it. One great example, actually, because leadership can play a huge part in this.

[00:15:03] And one of the conferences we were organizing, I was absolutely blown away by a female CEO who opened up the conference by saying, I'm experiencing the menopause, I've got hot flushes, I've got terrible brain fog. And it was such a powerful statement to open up a conversation about the menopause before the training was about to happen. Because she made herself vulnerable, but also it gave everybody permission to talk about the menopause.

[00:15:33] The upskilling I think is really key because line managers aren't more knowledgeable about menopause than the rest of us. And they can feel very fearful coming to menopause sessions because they don't know what they don't know. In usually a short period of time, they get to that point where they can say, I know enough and I know how I can help someone.

[00:15:55] And, and thinking about the individual perspective on that, if you know your line manager is open for that conversation, you're much more likely to go to them and ask for support if you need it. Also looking at your workplace and asking the question, how menopause friendly is our work environment? Making sure you're tapping into your colleagues and saying, actually what's getting in the way of you being your best and what can we do to help?

[00:16:21] And what we saw in one of the manufacturing organizations, is they ask their colleagues to wear white on the production line. And they've changed their uniforms and on the manufacturing floor to white tops with navy trousers. So there's lots of ideas that we see happening. And the one I think is absolutely remarkable is when people set up support groups for their colleagues. You can share your story, there's somebody here to listen. And that is a really great way of adding in the ongoing education as well as the social aspects. We also see some employers now adding in healthcare provision within the workplace. So you can have access to a menopause doctor.

[00:17:05] Zannat Reza: Deborah tells me that the UK has developed a menopause friendly accreditation organization to help companies create supportive workplace environments for women.

[00:17:14] Deborah Garlick: The Menopause Friendly Accreditation is over three years old now. There's around about five hundred plus employers that are working through a program. And they find it helpful to have a roadmap of what good looks like and to be able to work with other employers to share ideas, resources, and hints and tips. Then when they feel that they've done enough to change the culture, they apply with the independent panel. And if they achieve standards, then that's a celebration. That means they can demonstrate that they are an accredited menopause friendly employer.

[00:17:52] Zannat Reza: Once a year, they honor employers at the Menopause Friendly Employer Awards. Those who don't meet the standards receive a report and work with their teams to make changes so they can get accredited.

[00:18:02] I asked Deborah a question we're asking all of our guests for season two. If she could wave a magic wand and make a radical but realistic change to improve our society's well-being, what would it be?

[00:18:13] Deborah Garlick: I would say to be a champion for change around menopause. One of the things that would be my magic wand moment was appreciating all the changes we're making today will help generations to come.

[00:18:28] Zannat Reza: I posed the same question to Rachel curious to see what her answer would be.

[00:18:32] Rachel Bartholomew: That's a big question. When I think about femtech and I think about women's health, I wish that every company that works in this space could understand that they can be a femtech company. Whether it's from the research that you're doing and making sure that that is equal, whether it's tailoring your offerings to how you service women over men, to understanding, you know, where the trends are, where the research is, that can impact how you take care of a patient in this space.

[00:19:07] Zannat Reza: A big thank you to Rachel and Deborah for their thoughts on the importance of promoting and investing in women's health.

[00:19:12] Thanks for joining us for this episode. To learn more and for transcripts, go to TheFutureAge.ca. Listen to new episodes by following us wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're liking our podcasts, leave a review on Apple or Spotify.

[00:19:27] The Future Age is brought to you by SE Health, a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides the best care, inspires innovation, and impacts how people live and age at home.