Endometriosis Awareness Week - as well as Endometriosis UK’s Endometriosis Action Month - provides practices with a golden opportunity to learn more about a condition that affects so many women and those assigned female at birth, as well as engage with staff members within their workforce who live with it and reflect on ways to create a supportive environment.
The painful and debilitating condition is far more common than is generally understood, affecting one in 10 women and those assigned female at birth, which makes it as common as diabetes. (It’s also important to acknowledge that transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive people with female reproductive organs can also suffer from endometriosis, as well as some cis-gendered men.)
Historically, the condition has gone largely unheeded by employers, often being included together with other issues concerning reproductive organs that are simply not talked about, despite its being a chronic condition that can have a huge impact on a person’s work experience and career.
What is endometriosis?
Endometriosis is a condition where cells similar to those lining the womb are found elsewhere in the body, usually within the pelvic cavity. Each month these rogue cells react to the menstrual cycle in the same way as those in the womb – building up and then breaking down and bleeding. But unlike cells in the womb, they never leave the body as a period, having no way to escape.
This can lead to inflammation, chronic and sometimes severe pain and fatigue. Other symptoms include pain during or after sex, heavy periods and/or pain or bleeding in other areas of the body. Those living with the condition can also often find it more difficult to get pregnant.
Ultrasound or laparoscopic procedures can help to diagnose the condition but, because it’s very similar to other conditions like fibroids, IBS and adenomyosis, it can take time (in fact, in some case between eight and 10 years). And that’s even before sometimes needing to convince a doctor to take further action.
There is no cure for endometriosis, but there is a range of treatments to help – from commonplace pain relievers and hormonal treatments, all the way up to surgery.
Despite awareness of the condition improving in the past five years or so, endometriosis – due to its sensitive and highly personal nature – is still something that isn’t talked about enough, especially in the workplace.
How to help colleagues in architecture practice living with endometriosis
Lisa Edwards, Head of Practice Management at Architype, says that she and her colleagues have opened up discussion across the practice in order to remove the stigma associated with conversations surrounding endometriosis.
Being able to talk openly about the condition with team members - and especially line managers - is seen as the first way to increase engagement on the topic. If a colleague is experiencing a flare up and needs to work restricted hours, take a break, or perhaps work from home for a day, discussions can take place comfortably and without any feeling that they are being judged, explains Lisa.
Associate Emily Partridge adds: “It’s really important for everyone to see that support is happening at all levels. There’s something really powerful about seeing a Director talking openly about something so personal that is going on in peoples’ lives. It does help to set the culture for the office.”
The team-working culture of architectural practice can be supportive for individuals whose working hours might be disrupted or when a reallocation of tasks is needed.
“You never work on your own here,” says Emily. “Even if it is a small project there is always management oversight. If a manager knows that someone is going through a tough time, they can make sure that meetings or site visits can be scheduled so that someone else is available to cover, if necessary. You can then deal with situations in an ad hoc way as they happen, without having to cancel or make a fuss.”
Read more on how architecture practices can help colleagues experiencing menopause.
What’s on the endometriosis checklist for architecture practices?
Lisa outlines her practice’s commitment to helping staff members living with endometriosis, and sets out the steps any firm can adopt:
- Make endometriosis support part of a human resource policy.
- Educate managers on how to support their employees suffering from the disease through arrangements such as flexible working.
- Identify endometriosis champions (Architype has two) within the company as support contacts.
- Normalise conversation about endometriosis.
- Make support for endometriosis visible, signposted and accessible.
- Commit to be a public voice about endometriosis through communications channels such as social media.
It may be a first, small step for the industry, but awareness is beginning to build, says Lisa: “Arm yourself with the information and then you will be able to disseminate it as a company to your employees, to your visitors, to your clients. Open up the conversation!”
Thanks to Lisa Edwards and Emily Partridge, Architype.
Read more about endometriosis and download key resources from Endometriosis UK.
Text by Neal Morris. This is a Professional Feature edited by the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas.
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