You know how periods can make you feel absolutely awful — and some women suffer from excruciating pain thanks to menstruation that can impact their ability to even get out of bed?
And on the flipside of that, you know how if a dude asks you if you’re irritable because you’re “on your period” you want to tear his head off, even if it’s true? (Sometimes because it’s true.)
This is how we feel about the news that menstrual leave is actually a thing in some countries.
We’re thrilled there are women who can access leave that could be incredibly important, but we’re also super offended that you think being on our rags makes us incompetent.
That’s the delightful dichotomy of being a woman. Welcome.
But it turns out menstrual leave has been a thing for quite a while in some parts of the world. In Japan, women have been able to take time off for painful periods, or if they have to perform tasks that might exacerbate period pain, since just after World War II.
The leave is called seirikyuuka — meaning “physiological leave.”
The timing makes sense too. It was during World War II that women really started entering the workforce in huge numbers, as a response to many men being away serving in battle. Also, moon cups, tampons and super-absorbent thin pads hadn’t been thought of yet, so periods were still a messy business.
We would have wanted to stay home too.
Taiwan has also embraced a similar type of leave, with women able to take three days off a year — on top of the 30 days of half-pay sick leave workers are allowed to take.
In Indonesia, women are allowed two days a month of menstrual leave and in South Korea, workers and students are allowed to take time off as sick leave when they have their period.
Clearly, Asia is leading the way when it comes to menstrual leave, but before we laud them for being world leaders, it’s also important to consider the reasoning behind that leave.
Grazia reports that a lot of these laws were implemented in the first place because of the misplaced notion that women who work during their period risk having trouble conceiving children. So it’s not necessarily about compassion for the woman, it’s so she can keep pumping out those babies.
And if you think those are outdated notions that couldn’t possibly be supported today, let’s cast our mind back to Russia in 2018.
Just last year, a lawmaker proposed a bill giving women two days off work each month because, “During that period (of menstruation), most women experience psychological and physiological discomfort.”
“The pain for the fair sex is often so intense that it is necessary to call an ambulance (…) Strong pain induces heightened fatigue, reduces memory and work-competence and leads to colorful expressions of emotional discomfort.”
We’re confident that heightened fatigue is probably something experienced by the women in that man’s life more often than once a month.
So while the idea of a couple of extra days off seems like a delightful offer, it’s a double-edged sword. Take the leave and basically admit we’re weak and unhinged, or go back to work and grit our teeth while our uteruses convulse uncontrollably.
We’ll take the work, thanks.