Sonia Furstenau on BC’s Political Landscape — and Menopause

BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau wants to talk about menopause.

She’s raised the topic in at least three interviews with The Tyee in recent weeks and says she feels a responsibility to let other women know about the changes they can expect at her stage of life.

“I have definitely been talking a lot about menopause,” said the 53-year-old MLA for Cowichan Valley. “I just feel like I really would have liked it if people had talked to me about menopause before I ran into it like a big, sweaty, brick wall.”

Furstenau leads a caucus of two in the B.C. legislature, herself and Saanich North and the Islands MLA Adam Olsen. In a year-end interview, she talked about shifts in B.C.’s political landscape, what she and her party have to do in the 10 months until next year’s election and the need to provide better health information to women of a certain age.

“I have a lot of women my age who are in the same boat as me and it really is a choose-your-own-adventure feeling to it all,” said Furstenau, adding that both women and health-care providers need a real education campaign about menopause.

“Given that all women who survive through their child-bearing years are going to go through menopause, and it is a significant experience to say the least, the fact that it’s basically not talked about as a health and well-being issue is quite shocking,” she said, noting it affects half the population and has an economic impact as well.

“Not unlike menstruation or endometriosis, there’s a lot of expectation that women will just be quiet about their reproductive health, and I think we should move to a new era.”

Even in the pharmacy, professionals talk about menopause in hushed tones, Furstenau said. “The pharmacist whispered the word to me like it was something shameful,” she said, which she found ridiculous. “I am in no way embarrassed about seeking treatment for menopause.”

Different women experience different symptoms. Along with hot flashes and longer times between menstruating, she’s experienced sleep disruptions and shortness of breath and sometimes feels easily angered.

The latter may be endemic in politics as well, allowed Furstenau. “I am responding appropriately to the conditions of the world around me.”

She has been experiencing symptoms over the last three years.

“There’s anxiety that can come along with menopause; there’s headaches,” she said. “There’s such a wide range of symptoms that experiencing one or some or all of them can be quite a significant burden for women.”

Women are often dealing with these changes when they are in their mid-40s or 50s, a time when many are at a peak in their careers. They carry significant responsibilities and feel expected to operate at their full capacity with little allowance made if they’re experiencing symptoms.

Nor is it easy to find information about what can be done to treat menopause, such as the pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy, Furstenau said. The treatment was widespread a couple of decades ago but fell from favour after research out of the University of British Columbia linked it to an increased risk of breast cancer.

Recommendations based on the evidence have shifted again and Furstenau said that it’s generally recognized that the benefits outweigh the risks. Yet there’s a lack of clarity on when women should start the therapy and how long they should stay on it.

“All of these questions should not be left up to somebody to have to go and try to track down the answers on their own, which is what I’ve done,” she said.

And there’s new research that many are unaware of, she added. “Hormone replacement therapy can be a way to reduce the chances of dementia. I think a lot of people don’t know that.”

One solution would be for public health to take a stronger role educating women on what to expect, similar to how preteens learn about the changes that come with puberty, said Furstenau. “You could have a whole public health program for women in their 40s that is just accessible and available and [have] community centres provide it.”

In a legislature where the leaders of the three other parties are men who are middle-aged or older, is there political risk in talking about menopause and what she’s experiencing?

Furstenau said she doesn’t think so, and if there is, she’s willing to take that chance. Even if the public is not ready to hear about it, she said, she’ll be doing her job by pushing the limits on what it’s acceptable to talk about. “We really need the shape of our political landscape to change, because it certainly doesn’t reflect the world that we live in, and I’ll do whatever I can to do that.”

With the scheduled election just 10 months away, there’s a long way to go for the Green Party. It’s been polling at around 11 per cent support, which is typical for the party between elections, but has slipped to fourth as the Conservative Party of BC has surged in recent months and passed both the Greens and the official Opposition BC United party.

Furstenau pointed out the polls boded badly for the BC Greens in August 2020 before the government called a snap election a week after she became leader, but the party’s two incumbents held their seats and another Green came very close.

Thanks to stable funding and a presence in the legislature that now goes back a decade, the BC Green Party is in better shape than it has ever been, she said, adding the foundation is there and the team is doing what it needs to do to succeed.

The Conservative Party of BC’s bump seems to be spilling over from the federal Conservatives, Furstenau said. That may disappear, she argued, when B.C. voters take a closer look at the party and whether it would take the province in the right direction.

“I’m looking forward to 2024 when the four political parties are really going to need to highlight what their vision is for the province, but also what their specific platform and policies are,” Furstenau said.

Aside from better menopause care, she promised, the Green Party she leads will have a platform sharply focused on specific solutions to the many problems B.C. faces.