Summary:
SWF researcher Dr Emma Pavey has begun a research project exploring menopause and theology from various angles, a topic that is current and yet also under-explored. This project is looking at different ways theological thinking can accompany those experiencing menopause, but also vice versa – how menopause can serve theology and the church through dialogue with those experiencing it. A cornerstone of this project is therefore to listen to and learn from each others’ experiences.
Shared learning:
One aspect of this project is shared learning. Emma led a half-day online course on Menopause and Theology in collaboration with Sarum College on February 26th 2025, a well-received morning which she reflects on here. The hope is that this will be repeated and expanded to a longer in-person offering.
Another aspect is action research with a range of diverse voices, looking to collaborate in one-on-one and focus group conversation with women (and non-binary, intersex folk or trans men where pertinent) living in the UK who have felt potential connections of some kind between their own Christian theology and practice of faith and their own ongoing or recent experience of (peri)menopause, and/or who are interested in dialogue where such connections might emerge.
The project has already elicited all kinds of potential themes and metaphors with theological resonance including issues around change/transformation, intersectional identity, visibility/vulnerability, agency/control, and practicalities related to faith practice.
Academic outputs include the following:
‘“I am becoming a more substantial woman”: exploring the perspective of the eroded in menopause literature and experience’. 2025. Paper accepted for presentation at ‘Erosion – Creimeadh’, the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, UK and Ireland (ASLE-UKI) Biennial Conference, 12-14 August 2025, University of Galway
‘Confronting irresistible decay in contemporary (peri)menopause narratives and experience’. 2025. Paper presented at Irresistible Decay: Discourses of Death in Life from the 18th Century to Today, interdisciplinary conference, University of Warwick, 7th March, 2025.
‘The Change: Yoga, Theology and the Menopause’, 2022, Religions 13(4).
‘Towards a Public Theology of Menopause’, under review, 2025, Religions
