Menstrual Leave.

Being nice is not terribly profitable and nor does it satisfy my self interest. I can't say that sympathy would be enough for me to roll over if my manager wanted to introduce this, not unless i was going to get a pay rise to reflect the fact that i would'nt be taking such days off.

That somewhat misses the point. Women at this firm want days off.. fine. I'm asserting that a system for these women to take days off already exists and that it's not the responsibility of the firm to only allow them time off when they feel happy.

All in all at worst this is an example of modern day feminism discriminating against males while at best this is an extremely soft and somewhat naive policy which should certainly not be replicated elsewhere in its current described form.

Real example that Third Wave Feminism is an utter joke and needs to be annihilated.

Fine but women should't be paid for it. Also it would have to be accepted that should a woman volunteer to use the system no-one can suggest they are discriminated against when they don't go as far as men in the same industry who don't take 4 - 7 days off per month.

Not if it's genuine, but it would be a sickie for the plenty of women that have light periods or who cope perfectly well. That's my point, it would be open to abuse.
How would you police it? How would you even know that somebody is in so much pain that they had to stay off? Lots of women cope perfectly well and you are assuming that they wouldnt take advantage. Just like men, plenty of them would and the larger the organization the more so. How do they police it?

It's not even time off that this company is talking about - it's flexible working and having a policy that states up front that using flexitime to work around period pains is acceptable.

The number of people leaping to take offence at this without taking 5 minutes to look at what they're offended by is ridiculous.

A sick week every month... paid? Surely not. I'm for it but it can't be paid.

Real example that Third Wave Feminism is an utter joke and needs to be annihilated.

And thus the prophesy has been fulfilled.

There's always one.

Blame the patriarchy.

Look you've already won once with a line, at least give other people a change to get a full house in this round of Feminism Bingo.

My soggy knees.

That one isn't there I'm afraid.

You could have gone on a long lecture about equality of outcome and equality of opportunity, completely unprompted yet leaving you with the sensation of a good point well made. Or you could have gone on Twitter to send a vile threat or three.

My periods are often bloody terrible (happy accident) and sometimes I can't even get out of bed nevermind to lectures. The first two days of a period are the worst and I'd feel a lot better about starting work somewhere where they'd be OK with this and understanding. I think it's a good idea for women like me. I don't think the policy would be abused, it could be verified that you do suffer with quite a lot of pain with a doctors note or something like that.

For the record, I see a lot of really silly 'feminist' campaigns that don't spark my interest what-so-ever but I really don't think this is one of them. I do think this is something worth looking into and considering, - there's a whole lot of working women out there that would benefit immensely from this policy. I mean, we sortof ignore periods as a society like they don't really happen, but they do.Some of us suffer immensely and if guys knew what it was truly like, I'm sure they'd be a lot more empathizing! And it would be good if there were provisions for that in the working world, which we need really, being that the western world we live in now is a much more equal and opportunistic one for women than it ever was before. Surely that's a positive thing.

Well, on this thread what is actually being spoken about is a company that has introduced menstrual leave (not legislation as you say in a post above). It's a relatively small company and I imagine the people working there are happy (you're more likely to be happy if your boss trusts you and understands that sometimes you'll have days where it's simply not good for you to be at work, either for yourself or for the company). Therefore, in this case, I'm guessing the boss isn't asking for proof. It is difficult to provide proof of pain, whether we're talking about periods or something else - there has to be a level of trust between an employer and their employee. As someone has already mentioned in this thread, if it seems that a system is being abused then it's a disciplinary matter. If someone was regularly taking a full 7 days off a month I doubt that would be tolerated, and medical evidence (in the form of consultation with a GP) would definitely be sought.

A few people who have periods have commented on this thread, saying that their worst day of pain is usually just the one day (or maybe two). An employer who started this kind of policy would know that one or two days of serious pain or heavy bleeding is the average and would probably keep a closer eye on people taking more days off than they think is necessary. Some people do have pain or heavy bleeding for a longer period of time, but often they have a diagnosed (or diagnosable) condition, which I imagine will be dealt with in the same way as any other chronic illness is dealt with at work.

For someone who has, I assume, never experienced a period you seem to have a lot of very strong opinions about this.

Lastly you can have the sensible option.

Change legislation to say sure have days off for period pains but they will be unpaid and not counted towards your overall sick days in a year for review purposes by law.


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No one doubts that some women's periods are severe enough to warrant not going to work on the bad days it's the way the legislation is written, and proof of pain IF it is for all women to go to the doctors.

It's well known that someone who doesn't have painful periods this decade may have very painful ones next decade.

The issue is under a doctors note women will start going to the doctors saying my periods are really bad these days can I have a note when they aren't bad. Why? Because they can have a number of extra weeks off paid per year durr!

Or you can have a system where the woman is allotted say 26 period days per year (2 every 4 weeks) that they can have as extra paid leave. This is just grossly unfair to everyone who doesn't have a period and rewards people for having a ovaries.

Lastly you can have the sensible option.

Change legislation to say sure have days off for period pains but they will be unpaid and not counted towards your overall sick days in a year for review purposes by law.


Posted from TSR Mobile

Take a stronger painkiller ffs.

That's exactly what I said before, literally the only sensible option.