Paid Period Leave: Choice or Necessity for Working Women?

Isn’t it just plain shame that in a world that prides itself on equality and modernism, we still shy away from talking about periods? A GIGANTIC, HUGE, IN-THE-FACE, BLOODIED (quite literally) TRUTH - A crucial part of life is not openly discussed in public! Before social media and a few select websites, we don’t recall ever having a safe space where one could comfortably talk about period-related issues, questions, problems, or even painful experiences. Weren’t we always supposed to keep the period-related issues to ourselves? Weren’t we supposed to consider the period or our menstrual cycle as a routine thing, and just "deal with it"? Weren’t we supposed to act all hush-hush when somebody had a blot of blood on their clothes or when they asked for a sanitary pad in a public place? We were, right? We were supposed to keep our voices low. We were expected to suffer on our own- out of sight out of mind!

We wish the world actually overcame the period stigma. Women are suffering silently because they are forced to lower their voices when they want to talk about their period and freely express themselves or how they are feeling. Well, guess what? Now it’s time for a big fat NOPE, the time for wishing is over! We aren’t keeping period talks behind the office bathroom doors anymore. No more of holding in the unbearable pain, putting on a smile during meetings. No more fake sick leaves because, in reality, some women can’t possibly get up from bed due to cramps. WE ARE NOT DOING THAT ANYMORE. This is it for the stereotypes and we put an end to this crude, period-is-a-taboo ideology because it is absolutely needed, and here is WHY. 

Women in the Workplace: Women account for only 19.9% of the total labor force in India as per World Bank 2020 report. The workforce participation rate of India’s women is significantly lower than that of the men; and amongst the women, the employment levels of urban women are lower than those of their rural counterparts. India’s low labor force participation rate for women is due in part to restrictive cultural norms regarding women’s work, the gender wage gap, an increase in time spent for women continuing their education, and a lack of safety policies and flexible work offerings. It is funny how women are expected to work like men even with a bloody rampage active in their uterus but aren’t paid like one. Period leave is neither new nor novel. The state of Bihar has had two extra days of casual leave for women government employees since 1992. When asked about their experiences with respect to discrimination their response was that the differential treatment happened even before they had this leave. That differential treatment requires just various excuses and this is just one excuse among men. 

Quoting the anthropologist Emily Martin here: “Women are perceived as malfunctioning and their hormones [as] out of balance, rather than seeing the organization of society and work perceived in need of a transformation to demand less constant and disciplined productivity of a certain kind.” Earlier women weren’t allowed to work, now when they do, they are expected to work like men despite going through menstrual pain every month. Majority of men despise female bosses due to their fragile egos or worse act like period pain is a made-up legend that women like to use to get out from doing a tough job. When men insinuate this thought in public, as a woman, surely you feel like looking up in the sky and ask that creator of the infinite universe “WHY NOT THEM?” but then again deep down you know that wouldn’t have helped either. People need to be educated about the facts, issues, and problems that come along with periods. The knowledge of the situation which women have to go through every month would help men understand the pain women are told to hide from everyone. Frankly, humanizing the issue and offering 2 days of paid period leave would go a long way!

Period Pain is NO JOKE

Imagine waking up on a bright sunny day with blood patches on the cotton bedspread that you just bought a day ago with shooting pain in the uterus just because you didn't get knocked up this month. Don’t like the thought, right? This is what women go through every month. The unbearable pain in the lower abdomen, reaching for the lower back, along with diarrhea and often headaches is considered a bluff by a lot of men. The pain isn’t just physical but mental and emotional as well. There is a massive fall in the level of serotonin during the period. Serotonin is linked with irritability and sadness, along with unusual food craving and trouble in sleeping- all prominent symptoms of PMS. The symptoms go back to normal when the estrogen and progesterone levels come on the same level again which generally happens after a few days.  

It’s not like one day women up and decided to make their lives a little more difficult by signing the monthly subscription to their menstrual cycle. It takes an immense amount of courage to not fall down as soon as she gets up from her bed in the morning, it takes a lot of strength to change clothes she wore just hours before, it takes every ounce of patience in her to not yell at everyone breathing in her vicinity, and it only takes a little empathy, care and affection to have her feeling loved. Even a day's leave can have a miraculous effect! 

Menstrual Leave: Whether this is a Progressive Move or mere Tokenism

The only thing women want today, besides equality and consideration that they are no objects but humans as well, is to not put their body through any more hardship than it is already going through. There are multiple reasons as to why menstrual leaves should be mandatory or should be offered as an option:

• Menstrual cramps are the real deal and they can be extremely disturbing, painful, and hurting for some women with endometriosis.
• Some women have higher levels of prostaglandins; which cause extreme pain in the uterus leading to several menstrual cramps. 
• Several hormonal changes appear in the female body during the menstrual cycle (fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone levels). This highly affects the mood and may even trigger negative emotions like irritability and anger. 
• Women do not deserve to put their bodies in excessive work conditions while they are suffering from blood loss and contractions simultaneously. 
• No women asked for this, which is why it is suggested we employ a menstrual leave policy at the workplace to ensure that we do not get punished for something we did not ask for in the first place. 

We at Phoenix Pads, support women and womankind even more during those tough days. Phoenix Pads provides you with three different sanitary pad sizes for you to use throughout your menstrual cycle. Each pad is perfectly curated to support the female body with different menstrual flow. You can buy your sanitary pads online and have them home delivered to your doorstep from our website.