7 Reasons Why Women NEED And Deserve Period Leaves

Period leaves are a necessity!

All these period ads glorify our menstrual cycle and how women feel and behave when they’re on their periods. TBH, unlike the girls in the ads, there’s no way we’re wearing floral prints or white pants and stepping out feeling all sunshiny. Instead, all we wanna do is curl up in bed with some ginger tea, a hot water bag, painkillers and maybe chocolates and binge-watch something that suits our mood and mindset but not all of us have the luxury to do that! Unfortunately, we must put on our big girl pants and get to our workplace and do our jobs instead of enjoying the comfort of our beds as the bloodshed in our pants continues. This is also why period leaves have become an important topic of debate.

While I do understand that period leaves may discourage employers from hiring women and promoting them but there’s no denying the fact that not every woman is blessed when it comes to menstrual cycles. Most of us struggle with pre-menstrual symptoms like mood swings and then there are severe period cramps that can often be crippling. This is why most women struggle to get through the day while working. And this is exactly why a PIL filed by Advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi in the Supreme Court, seeking paid period leaves for female students as well as working women is currently being debated. To add more context to the debate, here are some reasons why we think period leaves are essential for women.

1. Cramps

As per a study by University College London, the pain women experience during menstrual cramps is as bad as the pain one experiences during a heart attack. When we don’t expect people to work while they’re having a heart attack, why should women be put in a situation where they have to bend over in pain while they bleed and continue working as if nothing is wrong?

2. Mood Swings

PMS is real and the mood swings are even worse. Hormones can make women extremely emotional to the point where simple feedback at work can take a toll on their mood and their minds and make it tough to continue working through the day. This also makes it uncomfortable for them to get through the day while holding back their emotions. I’m not saying we can’t be logical and reasonable during our periods but to do that while mentally all we want to do is hit the sack, can be extremely tough.

3. Lethargy

It’s practically a war zone in our pants and with all the blood that we lose, we’re bound to feel more tired, fatigued and lethargic. This can often make women look lazy and unwilling to work when in fact, it’s just their bodies going through pain and suffering that makes it tough for them to be as active as they’d normally be.

Also Read: All Kerala Universities To Have Menstrual Leave For Female Students: R.Bindu

4. Weakness

With all that blood loss and debilitating cramps, how is a woman supposed to feel fit and fab? Working through our periods without paid period leaves is no easy feat when we’re feeling too weak to even walk, let alone work. It takes immense strength to get ourselves to work, trust me.

5. Lack Of Attention

Paying attention to work can be tough when a woman is struggling to not scream out in pain or worried about period stains on her outfit in the middle of a working day. Add to that, all the other PMS symptoms, it’s a real task to focus on work when we could be at home in our comfy pyjamas without worrying about periods.

6. Drop In Productivity

Women’s productivity drops during the initial days of their menstrual cycle. Period leaves can give women the time to rest and recuperate and come back stronger and finish the tasks at hand instead of struggling to finish work while they bleed.

7. Shatters Taboo

It can be rather empowering to be able to openly tell people at work that you’re on your period and need to get some rest instead of braving through the storm every single month like it’s nothing. Moreover, it normalises periods and talking about them like any other biological process or problem.

Also Read: Explained: What Is The Menstrual Leave PIL In Supreme Court And The Menstruation Benefit Bill?

Also….

NGL but if period leaves are made compulsory, most of us women won’t have to hold in that long uncomfortable period fart or wear uncomfortable clothes to look good at work when all we wanna do is sit in our ugly pyjamas and fulfil all our food cravings.

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