“There wasn’t any proper sit-down talk about it”: Silence and salience in intergenerational discourse on menopause among Chinese women

Intergenerational inter-familial communication is one of the pillars of women’s knowledge about menopause; however, it remains largely unexplored in Chinese contexts. Drawing on interviews with 46 women experiencing menopause and using theme-oriented discourse analysis, this paper examined intergenerational communication about menopause among the women residing in Hong Kong and China mainland. The data were examined along two axes: ascending communication (between women in menopause and their mothers or older female family members) and descending communication (women in menopause and their daughters). The analysis demonstrated that menopause was rendered secondary and silenced when external circumstances (such as hardships, geographically dispersed families) took precedence. Menopause was made more salient in the conversations when symptoms became more severe and, therefore, noticeable. On reflecting on conversations about menopause, the women engaged in complex accounts work to provide excuses for why these conversations had not happened. The excuses primarily focused on external extenuating circumstances. The women also provided justifications to re-distribute the responsibility for communication about menopause between their daughters and themselves and to construct their identity of ‘good mothers’ who had a strong bond with their daughters. The analysis points to a changing epistemic landscape: the younger generation are more knowledgeable about menopause, but their sources of information are external, such as social media or school. Intergenerational communication on menopause can thus be viewed as a cline ranging from more deliberate salient communication to minimal communication or silence. This is reflective of complex mother-daughter relational dynamics, as well as a range of extra-familial contextual factors that impact it.