Four male delegates approached Garvey-Jones as she left the stage pledging to her personally to become more involved. During a panel session on recruitment, Garvey-Jones told delegates how she co-founded Travel Talks Menopause with Silversea regional sales manager Julie Nunes to shine a light on an under-discussed – and often misunderstood – topic.
She also explained how Holiday Extras has engaged Henpicked, one of the UK’s fastest growing communities for women over 40, to help the travel business set up a taskforce and become accredited menopause-friendly employers.
Speaking to TTG at the conference, Garvey-Jones said it spoke volumes that her call to action yielded such a positive response: “Men are not the enemy, they’re the allies," she said.
"These are people we’ve wanted to reach for some time. They want to do it to support their female colleagues, wives, female friends. They understand it’s a private subject, but we need action and energy to get this started.”
Garvey-Jones added: “Men can be scared to say the wrong thing so I want to create an opportunity and a platform for male allies to talk freely about the menopause and to ask the questions they need.”
Rob Fielding, general manager at Discover Adventure, was one of the four men who approached Garvey-Jones. “I’m really interested," he told TTG. "My wife has had a difficult menopause journey in the past five years.
"It’s not just her journey, but mine too. Also, I’m the only male in our business, other than the owner. There are eight women, and some of them are in the menopause years.
“I’m not doing it to get a badge for the business, it’s about the people. I want to know how best to start the conversation with them, and Lindsay is so brilliant at what she does – I know she’ll help give me the best toolkit to use.”
