The other day, I sat myself down and thought about all the times my peers – primarily the male ones – have asked me, “why are you getting so angry – are you PMSing?” I thought about the sheer number of times menstruation has come up in conversations as a point of humour; or something that can be waived off as ‘no big deal, all women go through it.’ Yes, all women go through it. But no, it isn’t a joke. It isn’t an enjoyable experience, and it certainly isn’t as luxurious a product as the Indian tax system seems to think it is. Still, there seem to be more and more people (and institutions) than ever before, willing to take active steps towards bringing the conversation around menstruation and its realities into the mainstream.
Recently, a YouTube video by Blush took the internet by a storm. Chances are, you’ve come across it already, perhaps even picked a side on the variety of arguments and debates it has stirred up. But first, a little context.
All kind of people have stated their opinions on Culture Machine’s new leave policy – doctors, students, CEOs, non-Indians and, of course, men. But what, really, is this entire argument about? We decided to break down all the questions around it, just so we could understand it better as well.
What is this leave policy all about?
Culture Machine, a Mumbai-based digital media company, recently announced that it has begun offering a ‘First Day of Period Leave.’ “Lots of times, I find men complaining about the fact that ‘Oh, but she gets her period and gets a day off or gets to sit idle and not do any work.’ But, the realisation that we have to have is that we don’t understand that pain and we don’t go through it. And, if we were to have that kind of discomfort, we would possibly not be coming to office or not be doing work at that point of time,” you can hear Ruchir Joshi, Head of Content, say in the video as the primary reason behind the implementation of this policy.
Why do so many women think this policy is an incredibly important step?
Based on the debates in the comment section of this video, most women agree that menstrual pain varies with each woman. In some cases, it really can be excruciating – in cases of endometriosis, for example, which occurs when a woman’s uterine cells grow outside the uterus, making menstrual flow particularly unbearable. There is severe discomfort associated with menstruation; making working during a woman’s period is, in almost all cases, extremely difficult. To have the option of paid leave that day, is obviously a breather for so many women.
Why are so many women apprehensive of, or against, this policy?
While scrolling through the comments, and conversing with multiple women of different backgrounds, we found a surprisingly large number of women dismissing this policy and, instead, promoting their own products for relieving period pain – doctors, in particular. ‘This petition is absolutely baseless and needs to be dumped. Stop portraying women as a victim of their physiology. Slight pain during periods is normal. Take a pill, reduce salt intake and go to work. Stop using periods as an excuse to shirk work and get sympathy. Get a gynae exam if pain severe,’ – commented a female viewer. To this, a reply was, ‘Maybe you are lucky enough that painkillers work on you, but every one of us is not that lucky. Some of us get so much pain that even painkillers won’t work. So one day leave is a blessing for them. And if you think that you are able to work then it’s okay, no one is forcing you to take leave.’
This is the general trend of arguments between female viewers that we observed – some state that women have had their tens of hands always full for ages now; it’s a part of their life they can deal with. Opinions I heard from women who were in Founder and CEO positions of organisations with a majority of female employees centre around the argument that, with their female employees not working an additional 12 days every year, their organisations will be increasingly hard to run.
What are people’s opinions about sick leave versus First Day of Period leave?
‘As a woman I think this is a stupid idea. Sick leaves can include this. All additional leave does is make it one more reason besides the whole maternity leave thing for them to prefer men candidates and also their justifiable logic of paying women less. Otherwise give our male counterparts 12 en-cashable leaves to balance things out.’ Lots of arguments follow the same string – sick leave should include menstrual leave as an option. “It’s a natural thing all women go through, so why take it as a sick day? It’s not a sickness,” another viewer asserts.
Is there room for misuse?
A lot of people certainly think there is. A leave like this definitely sounds difficult to monitor, and other countries that have implemented this leave policy, agree. In Zambia, for example, there exists a severe punishment if women are seen to be exploiting their day of leave – immediate employment termination. Although this policy was implemented in Indonesia as well, most Indonesian women choose not to take leave, due to the physical examination they are required to go through before taking menstrual leave, according to the Jakarta Globe. Companies around the world clearly are weary of this policy, due to their fear of it being misused.
What about the men?
An increasing number of viewers – both male and female – have pointed out the unfairness of this policy owing to the fact that male workers would get an additional 12 working days every year, as compared to their female counterparts. However, as another working woman I spoke to puts, “If men want to trade places and experience menstruation, I’m all up for working that day instead. If women can handle having to go through a hormonal rollercoaster every damn month, then men need to just suck it up – this is not something we do for fun.”
It’s evident that this policy has been a powerful point of debate among many, not just in India, but around the globe. Based on the kind of arguments we’ve seen, we understand that this isn’t a policy that can be immediately implemented, although it is a crucial step towards breaking the taboo surrounding menstruation in India and united turn towards feminism. Culture Machine and another digital marketing organisation, Gozoop, are the only two Indian firms that have taken this step, as of now. We hope that larger corporate organisations begin implementing this policy as well, so as to make it an increasingly detailed, well-thought-out plan and so it can, hopefully, be a reality in firms spanning the country someday.
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