For most menstruators, a day off during their period would come as a huge relief. Despite debilitating cramps, nausea, and body ache among other discomfort, menstruators are often forced to show up at work. In the last few years, several organisations including food delivery platforms Swiggy and Zomato, and news organisations like Mathrubhumi and News 7 among others, have introduced a period leave policy, or an option to work from home during one’s menstrual period. This is a welcome step towards building inclusivity and addressing menstrual distress at the workplace.
However, not many menstruators avail of them for a slew of reasons ranging from worrying that they might not be put on important assignments, to fearing sarcastic remarks from male colleagues. TNM spoke to a few women in organisations that offer period leaves to gauge how comfortable they were to avail of them.
For Aakansha Tandon, a media analyst at I-PAC, the ability to work from home during her period was a welcome relief. “Most of us experience pain and discomfort during the first or the second day of our period. Since our work involves travel, it is nice to work from home and rest instead, on difficult period days,” she said.
When asked if people at her workplace are encouraged to avail of period leaves, Aakansha said that most people do not make use of them. “I have taken a period leave only twice in the past eight months. I do not experience too much discomfort, so I tell myself that I can adjust and show up to work. But I also think that we, as women, have been conditioned to adjust to the work environment and we hesitate to prioritise our comfort and health. There is also a gender bias in workplaces. People think that because someone is a woman, they are weak, and cannot work during their period. I feel this is why most women hesitate to take a period leave even if they want to. They do not want to be perceived as weak.”
Sherly, a health reporter, from News 7, is of the opinion that there is a general hesitancy to make use of period leaves. “If I have already taken quite a few leaves in a particular month, I would be hesitant to take another day off on account of a period leave. I think the reason for taking leaves also matters. For instance, if my son is sick, I would not hesitate to take a leave because I feel a sense of responsibility to care for him. But if my period is uncomfortable, I will think twice before taking a leave because it is a personal problem, something that I can brave through.”
Another reason why a person would be hesitant to take a period leave is the way the policy itself is structured. A famous tech company based in Chennai offers its employees the option of working from home during their period. They can take a ‘day off’ during their period as well, but they will have to compensate by working on another day. An employee at the organisation told TNM that she would rather work from home during her period than take a leave and compensate for it.
Another employee from the same company said that when someone applies for a period leave, the system automatically approves it, but their senior manager gets a notification. “I have never had to use it [period leave], but I don’t think I will be too comfortable using it since the entire team gets notified,” she said.
Sugita Sarangaraj, deputy editor at News 7 Tamil, said that despite the company offering one period leave per month, most menstruators prefer to work on important stories rather than make use of the leave. A senior journalist herself, she said, “During the 2015 floods in Chennai, I was out reporting from the ground despite being on the second day of my period. The water was up to my waist. It’s all in the game as a journalist because I could not let my period get in the way of work.”
However, Sugita is also glad that such initiatives are being introduced, as it would encourage more women to take up physically demanding careers like journalism. “Every woman has a different experience during their period and they should be given the choice to rest during that time if they want to,” she said.
Prashasti, a media analyst, said that she often forgot that she could work from home during her period because the policy was introduced recently. However, she stated that there is already more performance pressure on women compared to men, in order to advance in their careers, and availing of period leaves looks like ‘wilful absenteeism’. “There is a general idea that if we do not come to the office every day, people might assume that we are not working as much as the men. This might backfire during our performance reviews,” she said.
While nobody explicitly told Prashasti that she cannot take a period leave, there has been subtle discouragement. “In terms of procedure, I do not need anyone’s approval to take a period leave. But there have been times when managers have reminded their team members that they themselves have not taken a period leave, despite being women. They go on to make an example of themselves, and this discourages us from making use of the leaves. While they tell us that it is our call to take a period leave or not, such behaviour is an indirect way of saying that we should forego them.”
It is also to be noted that most period leave policies are not inclusive of trans individuals. The language in most period leave policies exclusively states that women can avail of these leaves, leaving out a section of menstruators who do not identify as women, or within gender binaries.
Some of the women who spoke to TNM stated that their male colleagues were dismissive and sometimes insensitive towards the idea of period leaves. Men at their workplaces believed that menstruators are getting an ‘unfair’ advantage because of the period leave. While it is important for organisations to introduce period leaves, there must be measures to sensitise men as they are often in charge of implementing and overseeing the policy at the organisational level, they said.
The reactions of male colleagues and managers towards people in their team making use of period leaves also act as deterrents. While Prashasti said that the men in her team are quite open and that she has not gotten any negative reactions for taking period leaves, she is unsure if the same attitude is reflected across the organisation. But for a senior journalist working with a renowned media organisation in south India, it was a comment from a senior male colleague that made her vow to never take a period leave. Speaking to TNM, she said, “During a meeting after the period leave policy was introduced, one of the senior editors said that now the men would be forced to remember the date of their female colleagues’ periods. Most male employees were not happy that period leaves were introduced and viewed it as an ‘unfair privilege’ for women.”
The journalist further added that her organisation’s management was progressive enough to introduce period leaves, but the people who were in charge of implementing the policy had a problematic attitude. She believed that this attitude is counterproductive for women who might want to avail of a period leave.
She also explained why she thought men reacted this way. “I think this attitude stems from the fact that women have now become men’s competitors for jobs and career advancement. When policies like period leaves are introduced to encourage more women to join the workforce, men see it as a threat and develop a negative attitude towards them. This further discourages women from making use of such policy provisions.”
Clearly, it is not enough for companies to simply offer period leaves without facilitating an environment where people who avail such leaves are able to take them without any hesitation.
However, the stigma surrounding periods and period leaves is not just organisational, but also societal. Dr Swarna Rajagopalan, the founder of Prajnya Trust, a Chennai-based NGO that works towards gender equality, said that getting women to avail of menstrual leaves in their workplaces will also depend on getting society to normalise menstruation. “How many women taking menstrual leaves will then get to lie down with their feet up? Is work more restful than their lives at home? We must also ask if their fears are true, vis-à-vis the company then reading them as unreliable. Perhaps, they are in responsible positions and cannot afford to stop in the middle of a project or a course to take leave. There are several complex questions that must be addressed here,” she said.