The ‘Rethinking Work, Ageing and Retirement’ book series explores the impact of extended working lives and changes to welfare states and labour markets on people, organizations and society. The radical changes affecting work and retirement were an impetus for the series. In particular, rising state pension ages, shifts towards individual responsibility and risk in private pensions saving, and the abolition of mandatory retirement ages in a number of countries now frame decisions about retirement. In theory, these policy developments extend individual discretion about continuing in employment, which may create new opportunities for those who want – and are able – to work. In practice, however, it arguably makes retirement timing only a hypothetical choice that people can be held more accountable for. Individuals must now assume greater financial responsibility for remaining in work as long as they need to. For significant numbers of older people this may be difficult to achieve, however, given evidence of widespread age discrimination in the labour market and reduced employment opportunities for this group. This is in addition to difficulties individuals experience in the labour market at any age – for example, due to racism or ableism, or constraints on time and energy stemming from outside paid work, such as care responsibilities. Work itself also appears to be getting more precarious, albeit to differing degrees across countries, and the management of older workers is becoming less straightforward given uncertainties around retirement.

It is in this context, we are delighted to welcome this excellent volume on menopause transitions and the workplace edited by Vanessa Beck and Jo Brewis. It is well established that health-related issues have a significant impact on whether people continue working up to, and beyond, pension ages. We also know, as the editors of this volume point out in their introduction, that over half of women will at some stage experience one or more severe symptom(s) of menopause and some will consider leaving work because of this. Despite this, menopause transitions in the workplace have only recently been recognized as an issue of importance within the academic and policy literature, and this was in part because of the significant work the editors and authors of this book have done on this topic.