BLOOD, SWEAT, TEARS AND.. LEAVES?
Tags: Period Leave, Feminism, Writer, Sexism, Zomato Period Leave

BLOOD, SWEAT, TEARS AND.. LEAVES?

By Smruthi Krishnan and Sampriti Dutta

‘Sindoor shouldn’t be the only vermillion that is accepted in a woman’s life!’

On 8th August 2020, Zomato, an Indian restaurant aggregator and food delivery start-up, announced a new policy of ‘period leave’ for all its female and transgender employees, offering them up to 10 leaves in a year on account of their period. G.D. Anderson once said "Feminism isn't about making women stronger, women are already strong, it's about changing the way the world perceives that strength". In a country where menstruation is still seen as a taboo with 71% young womxn unaware of menstruation until their first cycle (Source - UNICEF), it’s a bold and progressive move. CEO, Zomato, Deepinder Goyal said, “There shouldn’t be any shame or stigma attached to applying for a period leave. You should feel free to tell people on internal groups, or emails that you are on your period leave for the day.”

Zomato’s decision set off a turbulent turmoil amongst the netizens on whether or not “Period Leaves” are required.

The whole debate boils to one question: Who needs period leaves?

The womxn with endometriosis who goes through excruciating agony and pops pills like candy during their period needs it, the womxn suffering from heavy bleeding with a deep bloodstain full of shame and tears needs it, the womxn taking hormonal therapy experiencing irregular periods; bleeding fifteen out of thirty days of the month needs it, the womxn who experiences fatigue, headaches, agonising pains and dysmenorrhea needs it.

In nutshell, the people who menstruate need it. Yet their ‘bloody’ struggles get buried under the ‘not important’ dusky pile in their workplace.

Womxn with debilitating menstrual conditions are often forced to exhaust their sick leaves due to extreme pain. A lot of womxn either bite down the pain or end up losing days they require for when they are sick. Period leave is an obvious solution since one cannot ignore the fact that womxn menstruate.

Opponents argue that womxn might misuse these leaves every month under the disguise of periods. It is extremely sexist to assume that a womxn's first instinct is to misuse the policies that essentially protect them. We understand that there might be exceptions. However exceptions are not the rule, we cannot deprive the entire community of the benefits of the policy due to a small section of people who ‘might’ exploit it. Womxn have to work doubly hard to prove themselves and are constantly under the microscope in a sexist workplace. Therefore it is unlikely that they would abuse such policies since they do not want to add to the stereotype that exists in real-time. For example, in 1947, Japan was the first country to introduce period leave, evidence suggests that Japanese womxn rarely use it ( Source - The Guardian, Justin McCurry ). It may seem like a tokenistic move unless people change their mindsets and provide womxn with a safe and comfortable work environment.

Period leave is not a step back in feminism. It is, in fact, ten steps forward as it aims to create an inclusive and sensitive workspace by normalising menstruation and breaking the stigmas associated with it. Gender equality propagated by feminism does not imply that womxn should be treated as men since they have different biological needs. Thus it’s essential to promote the concept of equity rather than equality. Although both encourage fairness, equality attains this through treating everyone the same irrespective of need, while equity realises this by treating people individually depending on their needs. When one discusses equality, one should realise there’s a stark difference between those who menstruate and those who don’t.

The concept of period leaves did not exist earlier since traditionally we are a part of a patriarchal status quo where workplaces are designed and structured to accommodate only the male section of the society, making it difficult for womxn to survive.

Through the ages, even the advertising sectors have set rather unnatural standards around menstruation, where periods are often romanticised. By portraying models participating in sports and physical activities in bright white pants these ads propagandize cringe- worthy euphemisms which create a false narrative that is far from the hard reality of extreme fatigue and pain that a person faces during their cycle.

When Zomato put forward its new policy, liberal journalist Barkha Dutt tweeted Zomato's decision -

"Sorry Zomato, as woke as your decision on #PeriodLeave is, it’s exactly what ghettoises wome(x)n and strengthens biological determinism.We cannot want to join the infantry, report war, fly fighter jets, go into space, want no exceptionalism and want period leave. It turns a normal biological experience into some sort of monumental event, gendering us at the workplace when we have fought so hard to not be gendered".

( Reference https://twitter.com/BDUTT/status/1293138534975467520. )

When Barkha Dutt obstinately opposes the issue of period leaves, she is forgetting that she cannot speak for the entire menstruating population ( Refer to Figure 1.02 stats by Healthline ). Ms Dutt speaks from a privileged point of view and dismisses the experience of very real conditions like dysmenorrhea. To bring everyone’s menstruation experience under the collective umbrella of ‘a normal event’ is ignorant.

Maternity leaves don’t gender womxn and label them as weak. It takes their aggravated physical needs into account, then why shouldn’t period leaves serve the same purpose? Period leaves don't aim to ghettoise womxn and amplify biological determinism or exaggerate it into a monumental event. It encourages a shift in the current teaching and working paradigm to one that incorporates the needs of womxn from an early age by normalising menstrual conversations.

Womxn can want to join the infantry and report war and also ask for period leaves. Womxn can be ambitious and competitive in the work sphere without ignoring their own pressing biological needs.

The dissidents argue that womxn will either refuse these leaves or firms will have more incentive to hire fewer womxn than they already do. Presently around 53 per cent of top Indian companies have a male to female employee ratio of 10:1 or worse. In gender representation stats on corporate boards of directors, womxn held only 20.8% of the board seats on Russell 1000 companies.

In 2013, the gender pay gap in India was estimated to be 24.81%. India is also one of the bottom 10 countries when it comes to female participation in the economy. Thus, in addition to unequal pay, there is also unequal representation even though womxn constitute almost half the Indian population. Opposers claim that this move will be a stab in the back of the “Equal Pay “ movement since womxn work fewer days and should therefore be paid less and firms would refrain from hiring said less productive workers. But what people fail to realise is that womxn as a part of the workforce create a huge impact on the economy in terms of productivity as well as output. The paper “The Impact of Gender Inequality in Education and Employment on Economic Growth” by Klasen and Lamanna (2009 on South Asian countries for the period 1960-2000) explains, “Gender inequality in education reduced economic growth till the 1990s, while the impact reduced afterwards with the decrease in the level of gender inequality. Gender inequality in the labour force also reduces the level of economic growth for these countries, elucidating the importance of women in the process of development”.

The problem lies within the system. Menstruation attaches itself to the productive value of a womxn. However, for almost every disease men are affected more than womxn as shown below in Figure 1.01, a report by Global Health Observatory Data World Health Stats by WHO.

This creates additional medical costs for sexist companies that recruit more men. Ironically it is never associated with weakness or productivity loss of men.

We take into account that our country has an enormous menstruating population working as daily-wage labourers. For these womxn, the concept of period leave doesn’t provide much respite, yet. However, we need to start someplace lest we should remain stuck in this patriarchal setup.This conversation is imperative to normalise period leaves and construct a society that harbours womxn in both organised and unorganised sectors. It’s a start and we hope it will trickle down into the informal sector. After all, every drop counts.

“There are 355 million menstruating womxn in India, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the country’s population”. Menstruation is cloaked in mystery and taboo. Countless womxn miss classes/work due to their period as there are no clean, safe spaces to change their menstrual products. A 2014 report by the NGO Dasra titled Spot On! found that, “Nearly 23 million girls drop out of school annually due to lack of proper menstrual hygiene management facilities''

A period leave provides ample rest to womxn thus increasing their productivity rather than reducing it.The recent Covid-19 Pandemic has also proved us that Work From Home culture is a successful alternative. Thus Period leaves doesn’t always mean productivity loss. By saying that womxn should be paid less for taking days off due to menstrual pain is providing equality at the cost of equity. Why should those who are severely distressed by their biological functioning be asked to tolerate their pain? Hiring biases are a result of misogyny and can’t be solved by treating womxn like men. The workplace should be restructured, leading to a rise in the number of womxn joining the professional sphere and reducing dropout rates of working womxn. This will result in an increase in overall productivity and economic output. Womxn should be able to prioritise their menstrual health without the fear of losing opportunities.

The concept of period leaves is just the tip of the iceberg. Society is knit in a way that paves the path for only men to excel. It’s high time we etch a comprehensive path for both men and womxn. It’s the dawn of a new, progressive era encompassing a more sensitive and all-inclusive institution where every member, menstruating or not is treated with dignity and pushed to transcend. Let’s retrace the patriarchal blueprints and map the world with red and redefine success with blood, sweat, tears and leaves.