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 think it should be more flexible, with an option to WFH/swap hours around at the start of your period if you do struggle. Periods can be debilitating for some women, and in those cases it should be treated the same as any other health condition that an employer would consider reasonable adjustments for.

I agree. A menstruation leave is definitely not something I'd want to see, we get enough prejudice as it is from men!

Most women are quite capable of getting on with life and working whilst menstruating and wouldn't need time off. Who would decide who needed time off and who didn't. Very complicated and over a year would be so much time off.. people would take the piss.

We've already got sickness leave so we should use that if we are genuinely too ill to work due to pain or bleeding.

Sending women down the mine was not going to work well for many for all kinds of practical reasons.

Women were sent down the mines until 1842, and the main objection to them being down there were worries about their moral well-being (like working semi-naked with men) rather than concerns about how to manage their periods.
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I think conditions like dysmenorrhoea, endometriosis and adenomyosis should be conditions that are recognised in the same way pregnancy illness or cancer is, and a number of chronic conditions, in that absence relating to it won't get you called to HR because you've had more 4 days off sick in a year. Most women do manage their periods without much issue, but for some, they are debilitating, and I'm fairly sure if you suffer that badly, you will have already sought medical help - which seems to be very variable in its actual help.

There are far more options these days for flexible working, be it changed hours, working from home or whatever. Not all accommodations will work in all roles (the receptionist can't work from home, for example.) But there are more possibilities than there used to be. Even if you have a long term condition, employers can ultimately dismiss you on sickness grounds, if they can show you're not capable of requirements of the job.

All this is already in employment law - I'm not sure it needs more, except perhaps to say it also covers dysmenorrhoea etc. You will still get employers treat things differently. My previous employer said it needed no separate policy for menopause, as it was already covered by various sickness policies and so on (although it was specifically excluded from the private health cover.) I discovered last week my current employer offers up to £750 for private menopause consultations and treatment. I expect you would get similar variations for menstrual issues, too.

When god created humans he/she/it/they was obviously feeling very spiteful for how women were lumbered. There are many reasons to value being human -opposable thumbs, the power of speech, the capacity to think and reason. Regularly bleeding out of your vagina is not one of them. Its messy, inefficient and most animals do not have to suffer it.

Sets equality back years unfortunately - another excuse not to promote a woman. I started my career in the late 70s and didn’t even admit I took as much as a paracetamol. It was difficult to be taken seriously if you were a woman back then - I bet it’s not changed in some jobs even now.
Sadly the menopause time off issue is the same.

Way to set feminism back though. What with maternity, menopause and early retirement women would hardly be at work. You can take sick leave for it if it is really bad.

Ask for a 2nd opinion, change GPS, get a referral to a specialist. What you are describing isn't normal. It's not actually normal to suffer much pain during periods, but as women we have been so badly served medically, we are led to believe it is.

Menstrual, sick, going to school events, need time off as a child is sick, maternity, mental health days, ivf, breastfeeding, days off because there is a Y in there somewhere, peri-menopause, menopause, pet dying, anything else? school graduation, leave because there is a sale as Tesco?

The issue is your company’s general sick leave policy then. If a company don’t respect their employees enough to have a decent sick policy, there’s no way they’d ever implement menstrual leave

How on earth could you prove this was your menstrual period? It’s open to women taking advantage. Sorry OP but that’s madness. Plus they say women tend to menstruate at the same time when working together (it’s a thing look it up) so no one would be in.

No one would do the work then womena would get back then cry they need to go off on paid stress leave, well until their period showed up again

So basically women want to be paid to be sat at home by their employers, so who would actually be getting the work done? Unicorns?

Clearly its different if you've got a diagnosed condition like endometriosis

It’s not practical. But I do think you should talk to you employer about a flexible work pattern for you

I have so much sympathy as this was my experience. I had so much sick leave due to having ridiculously painful periods, I had to get a doctor's certificate each time. In the end I had the mirena coil fitted and that helped. I really think if it's affecting your job, you need to speak to your dr's about it.

But women have been proved not to menstruate at the same time - particularly in these days of hormonal contraception.

For most women, usual sick leave or no sick leave will be enough. But if you have endo or similar, then it should be treated like other long term conditions so you aren't penalised for having more sick days than they normally allow for.

If you trigger sick policy (and I have recently) with a decent employer they should be open to talking about reasonable adjustments for you as an individual, not just someone with periods.

Depends what job you do, surely. Imagine if your child's teacher took a couple of days off every month? Can you get some medical help for your periods?

What is needed is for women’s health needs to be taken seriously by doctors and for better treatments to be available.

As I said, my doctor isn’t interested in the slightest. They just tell me to lose weight.

im really surprised by how many women don’t seem to care about other women and their health issues though.

The hard question here is do you still need to lose weight? I’m really sorry you’re struggling. I’d missed the GP response.
Can you get the money together to see someone privately? Private GP or Gynae specialist?

Of course some women care about some women. But it’s just not practical. The men of the world would just not hire women. And to be honest - women may not hire women!! Like I’ve said, my business wouldn’t function and flexible or wfh jus doesn’t work in a lot of jobs.

this isn’t personal against you. I’m sorry you’ve not had the medical support you need.

Do you need to lose more weight? Could you get a personal trainer or similar if that is the case? Can you ask your GP for a target weight so that you have a goal to work towards? Are you eligible for the jabs if this is the case?

No OP as having a period is basically a bodily function that half the population has. Imagine everyone not going tk work and the productivity levels globally if woman had an extra 24 days (double annual leave) from work.

If you struggle this severely then that is not normal. You really need to see your GP.

I am assuming you have - what tests etc did your GP do as it sounds like you have extreme problems? I say this as someone who has also suffered extreme bleeding - I was diagnosed with adenomyosis.

Then I think you’d need to seek medical advice and get something from your doctor to explain why you’re off so much. I think it’s a wild idea to say all women should just get free menstrual leave. A lot of women don’t need this. A lot of women don’t need this but would probably take the piss with it. Also we don’t all have jobs where we can make up the hours when aren’t menstruating. I’m a teacher, I’m just imagining the chaos in school if all the women were off one week in every four weeks.

Ah yes, seek medical help. Ask the GP. If only some of these whinging women had thought of that... 🙄

Outside of questions of menstrual leave, I thought it had already been officially established that medical misogyny was a rampant problem these days, that women are grossly gaslit and inadequately treated compared to men? People have written books about it, there are policy reports, the government and NHS are investigating at a policy level. Surely some of the people posting on this thread can't treally hink it's just as simple as 'make an appointment with your doctor' and bingo, problem solved? If they really do think that then they're so out of touch that they have no place commenting on this thread.

Naga Munchetty has written a whole book (It's Probably Nothing) about it and her difficulty in getting taken seriously as a woman with adenomyosis - and she's not a shrinking violet, too shy or ill-informed to be able to assert herself with medical professionals. She's an extremely well educated professional with resources and a certain amount of influence at her disposal and still couldn't get help. It took 32 years. I'll say that again: 32 years. How the hell are the rest of us supposed to do it?

No-one would be proposing radical solutions such as menstrual leave if women could visit a doctor and get the help they need. Those rubbishing the idea might want to come up with a solution to the far larger problem before putting other women down.