Should women get paid period leave?
By: Riley Duignan

Women have always had a menstrual cycle, but have almost never been exempt from their everyday tasks; Is this ethical, and should women be able to take a paid leave while on their period?

Paid period leave is an ethical debate that’s been on many people’s minds, and many women have also protested in favor of this idea. In February of 2023, Spain was the first European country to introduce paid period leave for employees. For up to five days, women with medically certified pain and period-side effects are able to get paid leave that is funded by social security. Countries like Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Zambia all have short leave for their employees, but Japan and South Korea are not always typically paid, and often go unpaid. All of these counties have period leaves that are short lived, spanning from a 30 minute break for a few days, to generally up to 3 days leave (paid or unpaid depending on the country) a month. Among all of these countries, Spain has the longest paid period of leave.

According to the National Library of Medicine, 71.3% of women worldwide are estimated to report dysmenorrhea as an issue, (painful menstrual cycle mainly because of period camping); and depending on the country, more than 90% of women and girls report dysmenorrhea, making it a severe health issue. Additionally, around 10% of women with dysmenorrhea remain incapacitated for 1-3 days during their cycle. Accompanied with this, an approximated 73% of women get gastrointestinal issues while on their periods, this includes poor digestion, diarrhea, nausea, constipation, and cramping. 93% of women report overall different bowel movements and types while on their period, proving gastrointestinal issues a severe and common symptom in women. A woman’s menstrual cycle typically lasts 3 to 7 days (possibly a bit longer), meaning the average period leave is barely enough for the majority of women.

With these symptoms, a regular day on a woman’s period may be debilitating or severely uncomfortable, making it difficult to focus on work or required tasks. In the U.S., around 80% of women claim that they have a decreased sense of productivity or ability at work while on their period, and on average lose around 23.3days of so-called “peak” productivity a year. 45% of women in the U.S. need to take time off according to The National Library of Medicine and Samphire Neuroscience.
“In a recent survey of approximately 33,000 respondents, 13.8% of women reported absenteeism (i.e. failure to report for or remain at work or in school as planned) during their menses and 80.7% reported presenteeism (i.e. the act of showing up for work or school without being productive).” (Menstrual cycle-associated symptoms and workplace productivity in US employees, National Library of Medicine). If such a consistent amount of women not only have some sort of absenteeism because of their periods, but also show a significant amount of detrimental period related symptoms, why don’t all countries have paid period leave for women?

The answer is a structural and ethical inequalities, rooted in cognitive bias towards women. Women are often stereotyped as less tough, ambitious, and hard working than men; because of this, employers (and governments) don’t give the option of leave for women, out of assumption caused by gendered stereotypes. Many women (with or without access to period leave) fear further workplace discrimination and being titled “unreliable”. Employers and companies also rarely give menstrual leave because of high costs from possible absenteeism.

Women and their periods are still understudied and misunderstood, which is likely why most countries don’t care to introduce paid menstrual leave for their women. Within this dilemma, it is widely debated that if men had periods, menstrual leave would be a standard practice in workplace environments, due to high research in male-dominated disorders and health concerns (with male biology being the standard biology in research). But, this is a whole other dilemma to be had.
What do you think? Should every country have paid period leave for women?

Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/04/spain-historic-menstrual-leave-law-hardly-used-period-pain-endometriosis#:~:text=Women%20in%20Spain%20have%20the%20right%20to,of%20awareness%20mean%20few%20have%20taken%20it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/17/spain-paid-menstrual-leave-countries/

Japanese menstrual leave policy: The road to menstrual equity? 

https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/female-workers-in-vietnam-legal-rights-gender-equality-targets.html/
https://english.mol.gov.tw/21139/40790/41240/
https://www.kingedwardvii.co.uk/health-hub/how-your-period-can-affect-your-digestion#:~:text=Checked%20for%20accuracy%20by,%25)%20being%20the%20most%20common.
https://www.orlandohealth.com/services-and-specialties/orlando-health-womens-institute/content-hub/learn-the-difference-between-painful-periods-endometriosis-and-ibs#:~:text=PMS%20and%20Painful%20Periods,occur%20before%20your%20period%20starts.
https://www.samphireneuro.com/en-us/blog/periods-productivity-and-the-path-to-progress
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9761221/#:~:text=Introduction,leading%20to%20absences%20from%20work.
https://www.aamc.org/news/why-we-know-so-little-about-women-s-health#:~:text=Celina%20Yong%2C%20MD%2C%20the%20director,solve%20things%2C%E2%80%9D%20she%20says.
https://www.redschool.net/blog/if-men-had-periods#:~:text=If%20men%20had%20periods%2C%20the%20workplace%20would%20be%20optimized%20for,normal%20part%20of%20workplace%20planning.
https://www.wateraid.org/uk/blog/if-men-had-periods#:~:text=Coming%20on%20would%20be%20celebrated,prayers%20dedicated%20to%20relieving%20cramps