Knowledge Base · Workplace
A pattern analysis drawn from 95 lived accounts. These are not edge cases – they are the norm. Every pattern here has a legal implication and a practical remedy.
What the data shows
4–5
Jobs lost on average across a working life – not a single incident
8 yrs
Average diagnostic delay – during which women receive disciplinary warnings for medical absences
0
Accounts where job loss was inevitable – every case involved a failure of process, policy, or support
The evidence base
The lived accounts on this page sit on top of a research record built across three scopes. What girls and women describe in their own words is exactly what the peer-reviewed and public evidence predicts.
The 2025 public inquiry into women's health (NOU 2025:5) and the Directorate of Health's review of care for women with endometriosis both document delayed diagnosis and inadequate follow-up as systemic, not individual, failures.12
Sources: NOU 2025:5; Helsedirektoratet.
Eurofound and the European Patients' Forum document that people with chronic conditions face reduced ability to stay in work and a widespread lack of workplace accommodation — a labour-market problem, not a personal one.34
Sources: Eurofound (2019); European Patients' Forum.
Multi-country studies quantify the cost of endometriosis: the largest share of its total economic burden comes from lost work productivity, not direct healthcare spending, and is measurable across ten-country cohorts.56
Sources: Soliman et al. (2017); Nnoaham et al. (2011).
The missing number is a purchase order, not a gap. Norway's own public inquiry calls for the national cost data on women's health to be produced. When authorities ask for the figure, the absence of that figure is a commission — and TrustHer is built to deliver it.1
Prevalence: high
Women with chronic conditions routinely lose jobs – not once, but repeatedly across their careers – due to illness-related absences that employers treat as conduct failures rather than medical circumstances.
I've lost 4 jobs. 4. I'm in a probationary period at my current part-time job, and I just had laparoscopic surgery to remove endometriosis 2 weeks ago after 4 trips to the emergency room in a month.Original · engelskI've lost 4 jobs. 4. I'm in a probationary period at my current part-time job, and I just had laparoscopic surgery to remove endometriosis 2 weeks ago after 4 trips to the emergency room in a month.
Yes, I have lost so many jobs over the years due to my endo and now 47 and just lost another one, endo has ruined my life – can't have kids, lost my husband and lost jobs that I loved.Original · engelskYes, I have lost so many jobs over the years due to my endo and now 47 and just lost another one, endo has ruined my life – can't have kids, lost my husband and lost jobs that I loved.
Prevalence: high
Employers respond to symptoms by issuing formal warnings for attendance, while the underlying medical cause is either unknown, disbelieved, or treated as irrelevant to the disciplinary process.
I was told my condition makes me unreliable. It's so hard trying to get someone who doesn't understand the full body pain we go through to even begin to wrap their head around it.Original · engelskI was told my condition makes me unreliable. It's so hard trying to get someone who doesn't understand the full body pain we go through to even begin to wrap their head around it.
I was fired because of my attendance. Every job I've had looked into it and said the same – equality act yes, disability act no – despite diagnosis. Even my GP said it's not, but should be.Original · engelskI was fired because of my attendance. Every job I've had looked into it and said the same – equality act yes, disability act no – despite diagnosis. Even my GP said it's not, but should be.
Prevalence: high
Women consistently report that their pain is not believed – by employers, colleagues, and managers – requiring them to perform wellness while visibly suffering and to justify absences they should not have to justify.
The hardest part of endometriosis isn't the pain itself. It's the endless battle to convince others that the pain is real.Original · engelskThe hardest part of endometriosis isn't the pain itself. It's the endless battle to convince others that the pain is real.
I was sent to the ER by employers on numerous occasions only to be sent home with an informational pamphlet on what a menstrual cycle is like – I haven't had one for the past 17 years.Original · engelskI was sent to the ER by employers on numerous occasions only to be sent home with an informational pamphlet on what a menstrual cycle is like – I haven't had one for the past 17 years.
Prevalence: high
Women who cannot sustain formal employment systematically downgrade their careers – moving from skilled roles to gig work, part-time positions, or self-employment – to maintain any income while managing unpredictable symptoms.
I've lost a number of jobs, which has pushed me into zero-hour contracts so I'm not as vulnerable to being let go during flare-ups. Although the flexibility helps, the unpredictability makes it very difficult to consistently cover my bills.Original · engelskI've lost a number of jobs, which has pushed me into zero-hour contracts so I'm not as vulnerable to being let go during flare-ups. Although the flexibility helps, the unpredictability makes it very difficult to consistently cover my bills.
I've been waiting two years for surgery and had to stop working full-time – transitioning from working my dream career to settling for anything that will pay the bills. One of my least favourite parts of all this.Original · engelskI've been waiting two years for surgery and had to stop working full-time – transitioning from working my dream career to settling for anything that will pay the bills. One of my least favourite parts of all this.
Prevalence: high
The psychological cost of managing chronic illness at work – guilt, anxiety, shame, and loss of professional identity – is as disabling as the physical symptoms and is rarely acknowledged as part of the occupational health picture.
Nobody fired me but I preferred to quit because I understood that I was just a burden for the team and it's not fair.Original · engelskNobody fired me but I preferred to quit because I understood that I was just a burden for the team and it's not fair.
Nobody realises the hardship of having to stop working because of this and what that alone does to a person. Changes your whole life, how you see yourself, what you're capable of, the life you dreamed of having.Original · engelskNobody realises the hardship of having to stop working because of this and what that alone does to a person. Changes your whole life, how you see yourself, what you're capable of, the life you dreamed of having.
Prevalence: medium
Women who undergo surgery are routinely pushed back into full duties before recovery is complete, or dismissed during surgical leave – transforming a medical intervention into an employment crisis.
I received no help when I had surgery – was expected back to work full-time on 12-hour shifts just 3 weeks post-surgery. Lost that job. Started a new one and lost that one too last week.Original · engelskI received no help when I had surgery – was expected back to work full-time on 12-hour shifts just 3 weeks post-surgery. Lost that job. Started a new one and lost that one too last week.
I was off for two months then asked for a phased return. My former boss kept making up excuses and just didn't bother letting me know about my job – or telling me I was sacked.Original · engelskI was off for two months then asked for a phased return. My former boss kept making up excuses and just didn't bother letting me know about my job – or telling me I was sacked.
Prevalence: medium
The average 8-year diagnostic delay means women suffer disciplinary consequences for absences caused by an unrecognised condition – losing jobs before they have the medical documentation that might have protected them.
I even don't have a diagnosis and I lost the job because of my pain.Original · engelskI even don't have a diagnosis and I lost the job because of my pain.
10 years with endo, just now got diagnosed. Unfortunately no idea what was going with my body – always with big guilt about why I am always tired and weak.Original · engelsk10 years with endo, just now got diagnosed. Unfortunately no idea what was going with my body – always with big guilt about why I am always tired and weak.
Prevalence: medium
When women do request adjustments – flexible hours, remote work, occupational health referrals – they are frequently ignored, delayed, or offered nominal support that does not match clinical recommendations.
I requested reasonable accommodations and my doctor was working on FMLA paperwork when I was 'terminated effective immediately,' with no actual cause given.Original · engelskI requested reasonable accommodations and my doctor was working on FMLA paperwork when I was 'terminated effective immediately,' with no actual cause given.
I worked for a large employer! They even went against occupational health recommendations. Yes you can take this to court and probably win – but you need the strength, the energy, and the money for a good solicitor.Original · engelskI worked for a large employer! They even went against occupational health recommendations. Yes you can take this to court and probably win – but you need the strength, the energy, and the money for a good solicitor.
Why it happens
The patterns above are not random cruelty. They are the predictable result of documented mechanisms — each one named and studied in research. Naming the mechanism is the first step to holding a system to account for it.
Being wronged specifically as a knower. When a woman's account of her own body is discounted because of who she is, she is denied credibility as a source of knowledge — the core of Miranda Fricker's account of testimonial injustice.7
Applied to illness, it explains why patients are systematically not believed about pain and symptoms they alone can feel.89
Fricker (2007); Carel & Kidd (2014); de Souza Campos & De Luca-Noronha (2025); UK Women's Health Strategy (2022).
The measurable experience of having a condition denied or minimised by others — including clinicians, employers and family. It is distinct enough to have its own validated measurement scale.10
Invalidation is independently associated with worse mental-health outcomes for patients living with chronic pain.12
Kool et al. (2010); pain-invalidation review, J Pain (2022); Woldhuis & Gandy (2024).
Harm caused by the very institution a person depends on and trusts — when a school, employer or health system fails to prevent or respond to a wrong it had a duty to address. Jennifer Freyd's research shows this failure compounds the original harm.13
Smith & Freyd (2014); Smidt, Adams-Clark & Freyd (2023).
Women's pain is systematically taken less seriously than men's, and more readily attributed to psychological rather than physical causes — a documented bias in how pain is assessed and treated.15
Stigma keeps the conditions hidden and diagnosis delayed.18
Samulowitz et al. (2018); endometriosis workplace-disclosure study (2021); Endometriosis UK.
Every pattern on this page traces to a named mechanism
Directly from the women
Not our recommendations — theirs. Aggregated, anonymously, from women who lived it and told us what would have kept them in work. Counts shown only where enough women have said the same thing to protect every individual.
For HR, Managers & Policymakers
The opposite of institutional betrayal is not neutrality — it is institutional courage: an institution that chooses to protect the person who depends on it, even when protecting itself would be easier.14 None of what follows requires a diagnosis, a tribunal, or a large budget. It requires a decision to act before harm becomes irreversible.
What employees need
What goes wrong
What changes outcomes
Career navigation
The evidence on this page is not only a case against employers. It is also information a girl can hold for herself. Pattern 08 — the point where an accommodation is requested and the request decides everything — repeats across the 95 accounts behind this page. Knowing that pattern in advance changes what she can plan for.
This is not about steering her away from anything. It is about making the invisible visible: which environments have flexibility built in, which rights she can invoke, and which structures protect her before she needs protecting.
The goal is never lowered ambition. It is informed ambition: knowing which environments, structures and rights make her ambitions achievable — before the system teaches her the hard way.
Nothing in this section may imply sorting girls into lower tracks. Rights to accommodation come first; choices come second; ambitions stay intact.
A custom report – your sector, your jurisdiction, your legal framework. For HR teams, occupational health leads, and union reps.
Every claim, one click away
Every claim on this page is linked to its original source. Lived accounts are quoted verbatim; research is cited with its confidence level. Where a finding is still emerging, it is labelled as such rather than presented as settled.
