To think menstrual leave should be a thing?

[ItsTheSeasonOfTheStick]

It might just be me, but I find coming into work on my period really hard. I get awful cramps, I feel sick, I am exhausted even after sleeping a full night and I can feel myself bleeding all the time. I just find it so overwhelming and I’m in an awful mood. I’d happily work extra hours for the rest of the month to make up for it, but I genuinely find the first couple of days so hard to work through.

I'm on my 6th bleed in 2.5 months. I would never be in work.

Imagine how disruptive this would be to workplaces! Especially those with largely female staff teams.

Yes I know some people really suffer and i have no issue if they are genuinely not well enough to work due to their period however the majority of people can manage work while they are on

If this were a thing, employers would employ less women.

I don’t think it should be an enforced thing, like if you’re on your period you must come in. But for some of us it is genuinely really difficult, but if I were to call in sick I’d trigger a sickness policy and end up being sacked when it’s not my own fault that I struggle.

I have severe endometriosis (controlled now by never having periods). In my 20s I worked my hours so that I did more across the month and could take the first day or two off. This was a disability accommodation- plus my boss didn't want me in work if I was in so much pain I needed paracetamol, an nsaid and a narcotic to control it.

It was a career saver

No, if you're ill you take sick leave. Or if you have flexi time you can work less hours at that time. Why should all women get extra time off?

I feel fine on my period. Not the best, obviously but OK to carry on everyday activities.

Ableist as it is, there’s just no way my current employer or anyone in the industry would entertain allowing me this amount of sick leave.

Do you think other illnesses are the person's own fault?

No. But I also don’t think it’s fair to basically expect people to come into work when sick? Or get sacked.

Great idea. Then no woman would ever get a job.

It's one of those things which some women need and some don't. And some women who don't need it would take the mick if they could. I have awful flooding but not much pain so i could wfh during my period. Some women get lots of pain.

Ridiculous idea

I think the point they were making was you're asking for one kind of sickness to be exempt from the workplace sickness policy.

That's a bag of worms very few workplaces will be willing to open.

The women who I know that need this wouldn't use it for fear of missing work or falling behind on work load. It would be a logistics nightmare and would definitely be heavily abused by women who don't need it

If you’re too sick to work you’re too sick, you are already entitled to sick leave for this, doesn’t need a specific policy

Sick leave.

I don't think there should be menstrual leave at such but I do agree the difficulties some women face and that impact it has on their lives should be discussed and that some reasonable adjustments could make a difference. Shorter days working from home for the first few days making up the time later in the week/month I could get behind.

Women would never get a job.

This is what I mean.

But it’s not a sickness is it? Being on your period isn’t a sickness.

I think we all need to toughen up a bit these days. We can't treat workplaces as support systems that pay our wages while we opt in and out according to what suits us best. I had agonising, 7-9 day heavy periods every single month from mid teens to mid fifties. That's forty years. If I had skipped work for a few of the most painful days from my twenties onwards, that would have been roughly 210 weeks or the equivalent of about 4 years of pay for no work! Obviously this isn't feasible.

What about people with IBS or rheumatism or arthritis? People have always worked despite pain - in fact in can help take your mind off the pain. I am very much in favour of workers' rights and not a fan of aggressive capitalism, but rights come with responsibilities and actually doing the job you are paid for seems a pre-requisite.

Women playing victim due to their biology harks back to Victorian times. Taking time off work for period issues will deter bosses from employing women...nobody wins. Speak to your GP about medication.

Your example is actually exactly why we don't need specific period leave. I mean, how would it even work? Before I went on the pill, my periods were awful and yes, I know what you mean about feeling yourself bleed all the time. It's awful. And it's painful and headaches etc

Mine didn't follow any kind of pattern.

So what you're looking for is some kind of flexibility if you're prepared to work a bit extra on the other days. And then you'd need a boss to whom you could say that. And that should be extended to everyone, that if they're under the weather for whatever reason, they can make up time another time. Which then might just be...a flexible working policy. for the benefits of everyone. And obviously only in circumstances where it's applicable.

How are you managing at the moment? Do you actually get your work done but you feel rotten?

no one would employ women if period leave was a thing. And some women don't have any trouble with their periods at all.

For some of us it isn't just pain though

It’s really tricky. Because if an employee has been diagnosed with dysmenorrhea or endometriosis then a lot of employers are set up to behave flexibly around those diagnosed conditions. But these kind of conditions can take years to diagnose and women can really struggle if they don’t have any kind of diagnosable disfunction. Sadly, in a lot of instances it just comes down to how reasonable / flexible your employer is.