Do you think that we should get menstrual leave?

[Sarahpaula]

I have had such a terrible period this month. I was in so much pain. I feel so weak and tired. I know that many women feel like this. Do you think we should have an entitlement to menstrual leave from work?

Some countries already have menstrual leave in place. Mainly in Asia, from what I can see.

Here is an article:

in Taiwan, menstrual leave legislation was amended as recently as 2013. It guarantees women three days of menstrual leave a year on top of the 30 days half-paid sick leave given to all workers.
The extra three days came after a coalition of politicians claimed that incorporating menstrual leave into regular sick leave would be a violation of women’s rights. Indonesian women, too, are allowed two days a month menstrual leave and South Korean workers AND students are entitled to take days off when they’ve got their period as sick leave.

as the song goes...

Baby we can talk all night, but that ain't getting us nowhere.

Men decide don't they?

Maybe this is why it's a "mans world", women on here are commenting to say periods aren't that painful and businesses won't hire women if they have time off due to periods. I'm not saying it would ever happen but maybe if more women banded together instead of driving the narrative that it's a "mans world" then maybe we'd get somewhere?

Also I don't think businesses could deny hiring a woman because of periods as I assume that would come down to discrimination plus there's not enough men to cover all the jobs and some jobs require women (support workers female only etc)

Also why shouldn't period products be free? Condoms are and they are disposable, toilet roll is free in public stalls and that's not reusable - women don't choose to have periods, it's a normal bodily function that we're stuck with, why should we have to pay a premium to manage it?

No, we should have better universal education and healthcare so that we can manage our periods effectively. By that I don’t mean we should all go on the pill, or that Dairy Milk should be available on the NHS, but we should learn that diet and exercise (and I say this as a woman who does little exercise and could improve her diet) is about much more than being able to fit into a size 8 dress. It impacts hugely on our hormones and our menstrual symptoms.

We should also be able to be confident about seeking help if we need it. I was raised as a catholic and went to convent schools where I learned nothing beyond the fact that they happened and if they didn’t it meant you were pregnant. I didn’t even realise my awful, heavy, clot laden periods weren’t normal until the age of 46 when I was diagnosed with fibroids. Fibroids I’d had for possibly decades. Seek help early - and don’t be fobbed off.

For some women, none of this will work. I’ve spent weeks of my life curled up in bed with hot water bottles, mainlining Twixes and Nurofen, having 3 hot baths a day, vomiting on occasion, but I wouldn’t want a separate rule for women. It would just give employers another reason not to employ us.

I don’t think it is a terrible idea at all. However most countries can’t even treat people properly when it’s mental health related and that affects men too. Periods only affect women. We have only just this week accepted that taxing sanitary products as “non-essential” items is unfair, it will come into effect next year.

Women have a lot of internalised misogyny around periods and the suffering that can be involved.

I personally, like clockwork, alternate each month between very light to the point of being barely existent one month and bleeding so much that a super tampon and maxi pad can’t cope with it the next. The latter is extremely stressful and painful. There is nothing I can do about it, and it surely doesn’t need to be said that I’d rather not experience it.

The NHS were useless with dealing with menstrual problems in my case. I used to be so unwell I was sent home from school. I suffer irregular periods, struggled with conceiving. Had periods so painful that even after buscopan, paracetamol and prescription naproxen I was literally crawling around because I couldn’t stand up. I never got a gynae referral. It was only because I had private health care through work that I finally got diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis and finally got decent treatment. It took decades to get that diagnosis.

Women don’t need automatic period days, they need proper medical intervention and recognition that periods can be utterly debilitating to the point of being a medical issue.

Wouldn't you just use sick leave?

Thankfully DD who is 22 tells me every detail in Technicolor from no of days to intensity of flow and where the ache is. She has been on the pill, had the implant and has a tvs pending just needs to phone hospital for apt. No problem getting that referral. GP is quite good as far as dd is concerned. I guess I'm lucky she shares and I can advise.

Women often get the ‘I just get on with things’ crap from other women - mothers, doctors, colleagues. Some women naturally have periods so light they don’t need to use sanitary protection for most of it. Others have periods so heavy that they’re using tampons and towels, changing them hourly and still risking leaking through their trousers. Some might need paracetamol on bad days. Others need hormonal contraception, tranexamic acid or prescription painkillers to manage the pain.

My mother was very much of the ‘just get on with things’ school. She thought I was making a fuss. She didn’t talk about periods. As an adult I found out that she had really irregular, light periods. I had 5 days of heavy, painful bleeding every month from the age of 11. It was only when I went on the pill as a contraceptive for a while at 17 that they eased. It never occurred to me to go to the doctor about it because I was told it was normal to have pain. Far too many women are dismissed by doctors when they do go for help. Pain and symptoms can be managed even if they can’t be stopped.

I have been saying for years that if men had periods (especially clotty, crampy ones), they'd have ten days off per month, pads and tampons would be free (and better designed) and they would have "cured" the bastard things years and years ago.

No. Take sick leave if it's that bad. Designated 'menstrual leave' would only wind up the barmy brigade of biological men who wish they weren't. They'd demand they should be entitled to all the 'benefits' of menstruation... the nutcases, of course, have NO IDEA what a bad period feels like, and they never will.

Absolutely we should. Ive suffered lengthy painful heavy periods all my life which has caused moderate anaemia on many occasions. A tranexamic acid and naproxen combo from the first (female)doc to take me seriously helped massively.As a teen it was awful and seriously fucked up a lot of my study time.In my 20's it was uni and work.

Sssaccddxxsscccfffrffvvcf

@YourWinter

As a start - why should women take sick leave (which will be monitored closely) to deal with medical issues inherently linked to their sex? Why should women suffer more because, as you have pointed out apropos of nothing that some men identify as women?

Beyond that - you managing to be so incredibly transphobic and misogynistic in a single sentence is impressive.

Go and get help, accupunture can help.
You need real sloutions

It is sad how quick some women are to shit on other women, how quick they are to dismiss intense suffering with mild contempt.

If your only experience of period cramping is a dull ache that eases with over the counter painkillers or fades with gentle exercise or an orgasm, then congratulations. You have won the menstrual lottery.

No one is dismissing other women, what’s being said is for most women, periods are something they can continue to function and work with. For a smaller percentage, which is estimated at approx 15 percent, its debilitating to different degrees, with painful irregular or heavy periods. For those women, better gynae care should be available to resolve those issues.

Fixing the root cause of the problem for those women is the answer, Not giving every single woman extra sick days, because it will put women on a lower footing in the workplace, costing more to have us work for you .

It will also be abused by many, you can’t prove you’re on your period, so could easily take the time when it suits you claiming a bad period, you can’t even prove you’ve got debilitating pain or flooding, because diagnosis is difficult to achieve, and you can’t prove when you’re periods stop and you’re through the menopause and should no longer be entitled. Because let’s face it, we aren’t letting anyone have a look. In addition some women will not use it even if they needed it, because it will put them at a disadvantage in the work place. They won’t want to take menstrual leave days.

Fixing the root cause of the issue, better gynae care for those who need it is the answer, not sending them home to suffer through it and giving everyone else the same opportunity.

So this is interesting... if you google risk factors menorrhagia you get a load of bodily things like uterine polyps & fibroids (which sound unmodifiable). But google RF for polyps/fibroids etc., there are many modifiable RFs. Like

Diabetes (type 2): obesity, fat distribution, lack of exercise
Endometriosis : drinking alcohol, intercourse during menses, lack of exercise, low body weight
Fibroids : obesity, high blood pressure, soymilk consumption, vit D deficiency, diet choices
Polyps : obesity, high blood pressure

Lupus, hypothyroidism: no modifiable RFs I could find.

I just thought it was interesting that sometimes heavy periods can be prevented.

Seeing a gynaecologist is more important than leave for you I reckon. If you feel like hell each month - 3 days is a drop in the ocean.

I have no reproductive issues. I fell pregnant easily 3 times. But my periods leave me incapacitated with pain and cramp that runs from my stomach to my toes and my back. It lasts 2 days. Menstrual leave would certainly help.

People coming here and telling us that heavy periods can be prevented now by a list on the Internet! Love it. Thanks so much for your input I finally now see that it’s probably all completely my own fault that I have fibroids. People who have endo will be thrilled to be told they should not have sex (not that it is painful or anything) and I am off to throw away all my soy milk immediately I will be fixed! Hurrah!

Also it’s really super easy to exercise when you are gushing blood or in pain! I mean what’s to stop you going for a run or even a swim!

Given the misogynistic Prime Minister, not a cat in hell's chance of it happening.

Better to focus on more wfh becoming a permanent thing and for those who cannot wfh, suitable toilet access at all times. Education as well.

My endo didn’t improve when I became teetotal. It did improve with surgery.