Menstrual Leave: Good Intention, Poor Solution

Abstract

Menstrual leave is an employment policy that allows individuals to take additional paid or unpaid leave from work during menstruation. In recent years, it has been attracting increasing global media and public attention. The motivation behind the promotion of the policy is typically benign, and it is often positioned as being a progressive development in women’s health and rights in the workplace. This chapter argues that the rationale behind this policy makes several exaggerated and incorrect assumptions about the nature, and prevalence of menstrual cycle-related symptoms in the working population. Moreover, menstrual leave policies could reflect, and contribute to, unhealthy and discriminatory practices against women in the workforce. Indeed, sex-specific employment policies such as menstrual leave can easily, albeit unintentionally, reinforce unhelpful and inaccurate societal myths that position ‘all women’ as weaker, less reliable, or more expensive employees than men. The chapter thus concludes that in order to support and improve menstrual health and gender equality in the workplace, it is better to focus on the working conditions and rights of all employees, plus access to good quality reproductive health information and medical treatment, if required.