Company Plans To Offer Women Menstrual Leave For Period Pain

Imagine a world where you never had to go to work feeling absolutely terrible during your period. Imagine a world where, instead of dragging yourself to an unproductive day, you could rest, recuperate, and feel better for tomorrow.

Well, that world might not be as far away as you think.

A UK company is setting a new precedent in Western countries today by announcing they plan to offer menstrual leave to all of their female employees. The company, a social community group called Coexist, employ 31 staff (24 women and 7 men), believes that the initiative will create a happier and productive work environment. Company director Bex Baxter says that as well as tapping into their female staff’s ‘natural rhythms’, the initiative also aims to change the stigmas around ‘women’s issues’. She explains:

“I have managed many female members of staff over the years and I have seen women at work who are bent over double because of the pain caused by their periods.

“Despite this, they feel they cannot go home because they do not class themselves as unwell.”

Increasing Productivity Naturally

To counter this Bex wanted to create a space within Coexist where it was recognised that women could take time off for their body’s natural cycle without being labelled as ill. She wanted to acknowledge that monthly pain can be a hassle for women at work, and that taking time off does not necessarily result in less productivity. In fact, she believes that the period policy will result in a higher productivity among female staff thanks to a synchronisation with the ‘natural cycles’ of the body.

“For women, one of these is their menstrual cycles. Naturally, when women are having their periods they are in a winter state, when they need to regroup, keep warm and nourish their bodies.

“The spring section of the cycle, immediately after a period is a time when women are actually three times as productive as usual,” she said.

What Was The Response?

According to Bex, the idea of menstrual leave has been wholeheartedly welcomed by the Coexist staff, both men and women. Be looks at the policy as a way to break down the taboo surrounding periods, and to encourage women to admit when they’re in pain and not working at optimum levels.

“I want us to break down that shame and replace the negativity with positivity,” said Bex. “Both men and women have been open to the ideas – especially from the younger generation.”

Not A New Thing

Although menstrual leave might sound like a new idea, it’s actually not as novel as you might assume. The idea was first seen in 1947 in Japan and other Asian countries including South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia currently have laws in place that allow menstrual leave. However, there is less consistency in Western nations and companies, with Nike believed to be the only worldwide company to have menstrual leave in their Code of Conduct.

Should Menstrual Leave Be Available In Australia?

There appear, on the surface anyway, to be a lot of potential benefits for companies in offering menstrual leave to their female staff members. Of course there remain two things that we can’t predict. The first is that we don’t really know how male staff members will respond to menstrual leave, and whether they might feel cheated by these new policies. That being said, we imagine that if periods happened to men, menstrual leave would already be a thing anyway.

The second thing we can’t be sure of is just how  sustainable it will really be for companies to offer monthly leave for women. However if we’re working under the assumption that women perform at far below their usual rate of productivity while experiencing period pain, it seems no different for them simply not to be there on those days.

All in all, we wouldn’t be holding our breath for menstrual leave to get to Australia any time soon, but it sure would be nice if it did!

Do you think local companies should consider to give female employees menstrual leave?