Should Menstrual Leaves be a thing?

We all know those days of the month, when we are bleeding, puking, suffering from stomach cramps, backache, headache, body ache, fatigue, mood swings and in some cases, even fatigue.

Periods have never been a cake walk. And if you are a working woman, I can totally sympathize! To put forward a smiling face, and fake as if everything’s perfectly fine, when in reality your entire world is nothing, but falling apart, is no doubt a tough task.

With organizations promoting gender equality at workplace, the number of women opting to work has increased. Organizations are becoming more & more sensitive towards the natural progression in a woman’s life and incorporate the changes in their policies, in order to make that transition easier.

Apart from the general quota of Sick leaves, Casual Leave, Contingency Leaves, Paid Leaves and Leave without pay, companies have started offering “Marriage Leave” (anywhere between 5 days to a month), “Maternity Leave” (ranging from 6 months to a year), “Paternity Leave” (up to 3 months) and “Adoption Leave” (differs from organization to organization). This not only helps women employees in increasing their productivity, but also balance their roles as Mothers & Working Professionals.

But one aspect that has been left untouched (at least in India) are “Paid Menstrual Leaves”.

Dr. Gedis Grudzinskas, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, believes 'menstrual leave' would boost women's motivation and productivity when they are in the workplace. These leaves could be anywhere between 1 to 3 days. Grudzinskas believes it's reasonable for female employees to be allowed at least one, if not three, days off per month. Some people may be laughing but Grudzinskas is serious about his opinion. Period.

This concept may be new in India, but countries like Japan, Indonesia, Korea and Philippines already have laws and policies around the same, that allow a working woman to take time off during her periods, if the pain is too great to do her job.

On one hand where this law will bring about a fresh wave among the female population, researchers are sceptical as to how their counterparts will react.

A recent study conducted by Alice Dan, a professor at College of Nursing at the University of Illinois at Chicago found that implementing Paid Menstrual Leaves promotes an impression that women are ill equipped for working, especially as compared to men.

Certain employees use it as an argument against equality of male and female workers, wherein on one hand these meagre benefits pacify women and also keeps them from fighting for more substantial benefits like higher wages.

If I were asked, Paid Menstrual Leaves must be given a chance, even if that means only a day off. Any which ways, working during menstruating days is as good as doing nothing the entire day! This will not only make it easy for the female employees to function, but also make the employers further sensitive towards the natural phenomenon.

While discussing this with a few people, I was surprised to see how reluctant they were to even share their opinions on a thing like periods, that everyone knows about and understand.

What are your views on this? Drop your comments below.