For almost 80% of women, menstruation is a tumultuous journey. Mood swings, depression, anxiety, bloating, period cramps or dysmenorrhea in the form of back pain, abdominal pain, pelvic pain and sometimes even overall body ache are some of the psycho-physiological muddles through which a woman is subjected to every month. More than half of the women experience pain for the first few days of period cycle with about 20% reporting it to be potentially severe and interfering in their day-to-day transactions.
Conditions such as anaemia, endometriosis (complained by 10% of the population) are likely to aggravate the painful experience. A 2011 study conducted across 10 countries, found that people with endometriosis experienced reduced work performance, losing about an average of approximately eleven hours of work per week.
Considering the issues of women face during menstruation, Ninong Ering, a Congress MP and Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh, had tabled a private members’ bill termed ‘the Menstruation Benefit Bill, 2017’. The bill proposed two days of paid menstrual leave each month for women engaged in the public and private sectors, along with better facilities at the workplace during menses. The facilities would be further extended to female students of Class VIII and above in all government schools.
In 2017, a digital media company in Delhi had announced that women have an option to take a paid leave on the first day of their periods as a part of their policy and calling on their authorities to legislate on the same.
A girls’ school in Kerala has a policy of permitting its students a menstrual leave since the year 1912. Bihar government offices, too, have a provision for two days’ special leave for women ever since 1992. Under this ‘Special Casual Leave’, women have the liberty to decide which two days of the month they would prefer to claim leave without having to provide any justification for the same.
Culture Machine, a Mumbai-based media firm, has around 75 women employees, and they announced a menstrual leave policy in 2017 via Youtube. The video showcases female workers discussing their physical and psychological turmoil during the first day of their periods and how the company policy has been a sigh of relief to them.
Instead of expecting women to adjust to the workplace environment, which is designed primarily for men, there is an immediate need to transform them into inclusive and sensitive spaces. This will ensure a productive environment where everyone will thrive and perform to their best potential.
There are several countries across the world which have paid menstrual leave policy for their female staff. The countries who have roped in similar laws are Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. While Indonesia has granted the first and second day of menstruation as paid leaves under its Labour Act of 1948, Japan has been providing this benefit to women since 1947.
We need more of such thoughtful initiatives in the form of legislation, especially for women belonging to the underprivileged sections of society. With centuries of oppression and marginalization, these women have reconciled with their bitter truth and learnt to adapt to adverse conditions in which they work. They don’t even get proper access to WASH facilities. Therefore, future legislations should cater to marginalized and vulnerable sections of society.
The author is a part of the current batch of the #PeriodParGyan Writer’s Training Program