The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that women face a lifetime of health challenges that men often escape -- issues such as menopause, endometriosis and fertility treatments that can shape their careers, earnings and quality of life. In a Globe special, Wallace Immen and Maria Gagliardi write that the causes include lack of knowledge about women's health, societal expectations and stigma around issues such as menopause, family planning, child care and mental health. These challenges are even sharper for women in marginalized communities. At a recent event, called Women's Health at Work: Closing the Gender Gap, participants and leaders from business, finance and medical industries found cause for optimism. Keynote speaker Dr. Yolanda Kirkham at the University of Toronto explained to the audience at the event, sponsored by Sun Life, that misunderstandings about women's health date back to ancient civilizations. Women's diseases were often dismissed as hysterical -- emotional rather than physical -- a term that remained in diagnostic manuals until the 1980s, Dr. Kirkham said. Although there is more knowledge now of hormonal imbalance and fluctuation, there are still many stigmas around women's health.