Gov. Bob Ferguson signed an executive order on Monday directing state agencies to develop and adopt standard workplace accommodations for employees experiencing perimenopause and menopause.

Menopause is the point when a person stops experiencing menstruation following years of transition or perimenopause. During this transition, people may have symptoms like hot flashes, brain fog and migraines that can interfere with their ability to work.

Federal law requires that employers provide reasonable accommodations to workers with disabilities. But that doesn't necessarily include people going through menopause, which is not explicitly covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In the absence of a mandate, some employers voluntarily provide employees going through that stage of life with reasonable accommodations. Common examples include lowering workplace temperatures, providing extra bathroom breaks and allowing workers to take sick leave to address menopause symptoms.

Because there's no single standard for menopause accommodations, workers' experiences can vary widely from employer to employer.

We should not be relying on a patchwork of employer accommodations to plan for something we know will impact half of our population," Ferguson said Monday during a news conference at Armoire, a women's clothing store in Sodo.

The executive order does not require private employers in Washington to provide workers going through menopause with reasonable accommodations.

Rather, it tasks the Women's Commission — a cabinet agency focused on women and girls — to evaluate existing workplace policies around menopause, as well as to identify best practices that could be made standard across state agencies. Once such a model is developed and adopted by state agencies, private employers could follow suit.

"Support for those experiencing menopause is an issue of fairness," Ferguson said. "It's an issue of equity, and there's certainly an economic issue as well."

People going through menopause risk missing work, turning down promotions or even losing their jobs because of symptoms, said April Haberman, co-founder and chief executive officer of MiDOViA. The organization evaluates how well companies support employees going through menopause.

"Women are suffering in silence and stigma because organizations don't have policy and structure in place so that they can be supported," Haberman said at Monday's event.

Haberman herself benefited from flexibility when she was in perimenopause. During that time, she could work from home, allowing her to take care of heavy periods and to see her doctor whenever she needed.

"Thousands of other women don't have that option," she said. "The gap between what women need and what women are given is exactly where good careers begin to silently, quietly fall apart."

The executive order comes at a time when many state legislatures have introduced bills around menopause care. Those include proposals to increase menopause education for medical professionals and to mandate coverage of menopause hormone therapy. Rhode Island is currently the only state that mandates workplace accommodations for menopause-related symptoms.

Ferguson said that Washington lawmakers might take up legislation on the issue in the future.

"We don't pretend this is the end or this is a solution," he said of the executive order. "But this is a beginning.

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