Dr Neelam Choudhary
Corporate major Larsen &Tourbo has gifted its 5000 women employees (accounting for 9% of its workforce) one day paid menstrual leave on women’s day, 2025. This is a welcome step. L&T gets added to a small yet impressive list of companies which took up the cudgels in favour of women with genuine health issues related to menstruation. These include Acer India’s Matrika, Zomato’s 10 day annual period leave , Chingari’s and Swiggy’s two paid leaves per month, Byju’s 12 days annual leave etc. Despite Smriti Irani’s ( the then minister of WCD) opposition to period leave on various grounds (including that the time of periods is not a handicap), there are many valid reasons to consider it seriously. Schoep et al.(2019) reported in their study that 80.7% of the respondents lost productivity and to it, presenteeism contributed more than absenteeism. In a story published in Times of India (24 January,2020) , the relative percentage of absenteeism and presenteeism was found to be 14% and 80%, plus 9 days of productivity loss per year.
In her study, Jennifer L Payne, Director of the Reproductive Psychiatry Research Program at the University of Virginia School of Medicine states:
“This study demonstrates that menstrual symptoms have a significant effect on women’s lives.” She continues…….. “I think these results demonstrate just how resilient women are – they are able to continue to work and be productive despite the significant impact that menstrual symptoms have.”
Studies based on India have found dysmenorrhoea (painful periods) among 50% to 87.8% women (Agarwal & Agarwal, 2010; Nair et al., 2007; Patel et al., 2006; Singh et al., 2008) with severe pain in 5?20% of the cases, hindering their participation in normal activities.
Menstruation is not a choice; it is a painful but inescapable monthly biological process. It is not a sickness but an inevitable physiological reality. We need to understand the difference between ‘common’ and ‘normal’-menstruation disorders are not normal. It is inequitable to merge menstrual leave with sickness leave, which is provided to all employees (Bhandari, 2025).
Soviet Union, Japan and Indonesia are among the pioneers having introduced a national policy (in 1922,1947 and 1948 respectively) in this regard, followed by South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Zambia, Phillipines and Spain. Though their policies differ with regard to no. of days of leave or its status as paid or unpaid, it shows the growing acknowledgment of the issue as an important area of policy intervention. It was also realised as a necessity at workplace by Bihar, which spearheaded this change in 1992 , followed by Kerala and Odisha.
Following a plea filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi to the Supreme Court seeking directions to centre and states to give monthly period leave to female students and workers, the latter asked the Centre and the States to frame a model policy in this regard. The court rejected the plea for mandatory menstrual leave on the ground that it lies in policy domain. It also highlighted that mandating it may discourage the employers from hiring women. However, apart from asking the Centre and States to do the needful, the Supreme court stated that it would grant support to any such decision by any state. Till date, not only law fails to exist, but also there is no centralised direction regarding ‘paid menstruation leave’ in India.
Those averse to it argue that it shall increase discrimination against women by discouraging employers from recruiting women employees. If this is the only possible outcome, it should have been reflected in the workforce participation rate of women in Japan and South Korea, where they constitute 44.5% and 42.1% of the workforce respectively (Sudhir,2020). In a survey carried out regarding whether such provisions at the workplace would increase women’s productivity, or reduce the hiring of women at the workplace, only 10% women respondents apprehended that such provisions would decrease job opportunities for women and increase the gender divide in the workplace, while 80% of them supported their introduction as it would increase productivity as well as lead to greater social acceptance of menstruation (Bhandari,2025).
But, is period leave enough? Our society is characterised by innumerable stigmas, including those related to the monthly cycle. In many homes, women can’t cook or perform a religious ceremony during periods. Not only that, cultural barriers pervade every aspect of life, including the workplaces. A Japanese government survey in 2017 found that only 0.9% of female employees claimed period leave (Hollingsworth, 2020), while the recent one conducted by major Tokyo-based consulting firm Deloitte Tohmatsu Group (from October 2022 to January 2023) found that 44% women didn’t take an off despite experiencing severe period pain. This can be attributed to hesitation to share, lack of support, not being a paid leave etc.
To enable the women to make the most of it ( if at all they are entitled to it),it is equally imperative for the society to destigmatise the periods, so that women with extremely painful periods can open up to the boss or colleagues without being regretful.
“At Zomato, we want to foster a culture of trust, truth and acceptance,” founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal …….. “There shouldn’t be any shame or stigma attached to applying for a period leave. You should feel free to tell people on internal groups, or emails that you are on your period leave for the day.”
At the launch of the World Bank’s ‘Women, Business, and the Law 2024’ report, World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill not only stated : “Women have the power to turbocharge the sputtering global economy,” but also advocated for policy reforms and removal of barriers to their progress to capitalize on the situation.
The recent PLFS survey (April-June 2024) has highlighted different dimensions of gender divide in the Indian labour market. The much debated period leave shall do its bit to bridge the gap by promoting inclusive workplaces, provided the journey also begins towards a progressive mindset.
(The author is from Faculty of Economics at CDOE, University of Jammu)
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