Period leave a slender solution for a super-plus situation

Opinion

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This article was published 16/05/2022 (953 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Spain may become the first European country to offer three days of menstrual leave for those experiencing severe pain, according to a draft bill that was leaked to Spanish media outlets last week. If passed, Spain would join a handful of countries that already have such policies in place.

The debate about paid menstrual leave periodically — see what I did there? — pops up in the news. I am of two minds about it.

On one hand, I think policy that acknowledges the fact many women suffer from debilitating periods — owing to painful, often chronic conditions such as endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids, dysmenorrhea, take your pick, there are so many — is, on its face, a progressive corrective.

Generations of people literally just didn’t talk about menstruation at all, let alone all of the life-altering super-plus variations — especially not in the workplace, and especially not in male-dominated workplaces or physical labour-intensive ones such as factory floors, where people have to stand for hours on end and sometimes don’t even provide adequate facilities for menstruating workers.

Periods were meant to be dealt with silently and discreetly, as though they were not happening at all.

On the other hand, essentially marking certain people in the office with a scarlet P seems like it could easily be twisted around to reinforce stereotypes about the Mysterious Menstruating Woman, who is too emotional, irrational and can’t make decisions when there is, to quote a certain former leader of the free world, “blood coming out of her wherever.”

The phrase “Is it that time of the month?” is already deployed by sexist jackasses to make powerful, opinionated women feel small — so frequently, in fact, that you can find listicles online compiling back-pocket comebacks. In that vein, “Wow, someone needs a period day” doesn’t feel like much of a stretch. Neither does companies silently promoting men over women who take the days, for that matter.

Period-leave policies, no matter how well-intentioned, do not exist in a vacuum, and do not alone fix a culture that still has some backwards ideas about menstruation.

How many sporty tampon commercials, featuring women really rolling the dice in their tennis whites, suggest that a period is something that “can’t stop us” even though it fully lays some of us out? We’re expected to pop a Midol and crack on because having your period isn’t an illness or disability.

Unless, of course, it is.

To live with debilitating period pain while also being subjected to stereotypes about being too moody and unstable to run point during the 9:30 a.m. all-hands meeting is to live at an uncomfortable intersection indeed.

Nestle all that into a broader work culture that sees taking any kind of sick day as a sign of weakness or lack of dedication, and it raises the question: would people even feel comfortable taking this kind of leave?

Numbers from Japan suggest that the answer is no. The island nation has offered menstrual leave since 1947. Less than 10 per cent of Japanese women take it, according to a survey by the Nikkei Intelligence Group. Many — almost 62 per cent — felt reluctant to apply for period leave to a male boss. Some were concerned their discomfort wasn’t uncomfortable enough to merit taking a day, others worried about inconveniencing co-workers every month.

Perhaps, then, enshrined period leave is not the answer. It’s kind of like how commercials for menstrual hygiene products have started using red dye to illustrate absorbance instead of blue like cowards: it’s nice and all, but people are still not getting proper diagnoses from their doctors about their pain. We need to think bigger.

What about creating compassionate workplaces that offer sick days — the kind that don’t have to be synced to your period-tracking app — and flex time, or are generally more accommodating of chronic pain and illness?

What if there were free hygiene products in the bathrooms? What if we talked openly about menstruation so that people could have better reference points of what is “normal” and how to advocate for ourselves if we’re experiencing the kind of pain that requires a leave?

Without the proper infrastructure to wrap around it, period leave just becomes a dusty, little-used policy that exists to make bureaucrats feel good. A hot water bottle is more useful.

jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @JenZoratti