Menopausal health is access to care as well as information, data and our own stories.

Despite our differences, menopausal people face some common access issues. Our broken health system not only makes it unaffordable for many of us to get the medical care we need, it has been built on data that have traditionally excluded women and, by extension, “women’s issues” like menopause. We’ve also been ill-served by some existing research. For example, many of us have been reticent to try HRT due to misreporting by the medical establishment and mainstream press that allowed a high-profile 2002 study to instill fear about the dangers of HRT relative to its benefits. Even more concerning, a mere seven percent of U.S. OB-GYN, internal medicine and family medicine residents say they feel competent to treat patients with menopause.

This is where technology (and capitalism) steps in. Given there are so many of us riding the menopause rollercoaster, and that acknowledging our experiences is finally shifting from the private to the public sphere, we’re an untapped market. FemTech is banking on us to the tune of an estimated $3 billion in innovation investments by the end of 2030. And they’re busy developing wearables, implants, apps and lifestyle programs for us to purchase and subscribe to. On one hand, this could be welcome news to those of us eager to find relief from hot flashes, insomnia, irritability and anger, brain fog and other symptoms ranging from the distressing to the debilitating. On the flip side, it’s a little distressing in itself to think the tech industry views us as walking ATMs.

And what about the data we’re giving them for free? As we are learning now, the ability to track your period on your smartphone isn’t just of interest to you, but to those who aspire to institutional control of women’s bodies. Granted, once menopausal bodies are no longer of interest as a means of (re)production, who knows how our data may be used? While the cynical among us might wonder whether FemTech is actually a bunch of tech bros commissioning apps to tap into a multi-billion-dollar market, some 70% of these companies report having at least one female founder. That said, all-male companies are still raising $7 for every $4 raised by all-female led counterparts, which isn’t confidence-inspiring for those asking whether FemTech will democratize access for its consumers or simply mirror existing inequities.

But innovation isn’t just about technology and products, it applies to ideas and renewing our ways of thinking. One area where innovation is happening that can advance equity is in the conversations we’re having and the stories we’re telling. Menopausal people are often viewed as a kind of caricature — harried, undersexed, plagued by weight gain and hot flashes… and angry about it! — which can sometimes feel all too accurate but tells an incomplete and limiting story. Thanks to the love and care of advocates like Omisade Burney-Scott, creator of the Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause, there are vibrant new spaces for sharing more inclusive stories that recognize the “multiverse” of different experiences. Asian and Indigenous experiences and views of menopause, too — all have different textures and stories to be lifted up. This opens up a narrative of possibility that recognizes the very real need to understand the unwanted symptoms of menopause and how to manage them while at the same time celebrating how people experiencing menopause may find in it a kind of liberation.