Creativity and menopause

Towards a social design of resilience and women’s empowerment

Abstract

This exploratory article examines menopause as a biographical, social, and political transition, reframed through the lens of creativity and social design. While menopause is often stigmatized and invisible, many women engage in creative, artistic, or cultural practices during this period, turning rupture into resilience and redefinition. The article develops a conceptual framework based on an interdisciplinary literature review (psychology, sociology, gender studies, art therapy, and social design). It mobilizes theoretical contributions from Cyrulnik, Klein, Manciaux, Kübler-Ross, Mezirow, Charlap, Langevin, Gilligan, and recent debates on “meno awareness” in marketing discourse (Journal of Marketing Management). The methodology is conceptual and prospective, articulated as a critical mapping of key notions. Three dimensions emerge: (1) creation as resilience and repair, (2) creativity as a driver of transformative learning and identity reconfiguration, and (3) menopause as a social and political issue marked by stigma but also resistance and reconversion. These dimensions are synthesized in a conceptual map highlighting creativity as a pathway toward empowerment and social innovation. The article contributes to design for social change by opening a new research field: menopause and creativity as diffuse social innovation. It proposes future directions, including Femmes Créatives (Intuitives), a podcast-research project that serves as both a qualitative inquiry and a design experiment, illustrating how design can act as a mediator, an enabler, and an agent of inclusion.