Women should be given time off work when period cramps strike
I’ve broken a few bones in my life.
I’ve had six teeth removed, been stabbed with injections like a pin cushion, dislocated my finger on a ski slope, and stubbed my little toe more times than I care to remember – but nothing compares to period pain.
The debilitating agony that rears its ugly head for a few days each month, making you double over and sob with cramps.
People who mestruate know all too well what it’s like to live with that deep, burning ache.
In fact, it’s a pain that is comparable only to the abdominal surgery I had as a teen. Like my recovery from being cut open, it feels like your insides are being wrung out, over and over again.
It can be utterly incapacitating.
I first got my period at 11 or 12 and saw stars at the searing, blinding pain in my womb. It felt like I was being ripped apart from the insides.
It takes your breath away – but there is an unspoken rule to ignore it, and carry on. Even if you were bleeding through your school pants and quietly stifling sobs in geography.
Like so many of us, as a grown woman, I’ve popped a few pills at the first rumblings of cramps, wrestled with tight-fitting work clothes, and limped my way into the office.
It’s a look we know all too well, especially since 80% of women are estimated to experience period pain in their lifetime. That pale-faced, eye-crunching groan from women who are hiding a water bottle under their shirt at their desk.
In Spain, there are reported plans to introduce medical leave for women who suffer from extreme period pain.
A draft bill that was leaked to Spanish media explained that women could potentially have three paid days of leave per month to cope with period pain – temporarily extended to five, in some circumstances.
While brilliant, and a fantastic example of giving women the autonomy over their bodies – perhaps helping women refocus and recuperate on this period of leave in advance of returning to work – I’m of the opinion that the suggested provisions could go much further.
Up to 10% of women say that their period pain is so severe that it affects their life
At its worst, period pain can spark vomiting and diarrhoea; affect your mood and your concentration, making you feel clumsy and exhausted with extreme mood swings.
So it’s no wonder women go on hormone-disrupting methods of contraception when they’re pre-teens. Have womb ablation (it’s where your womb-lining is effectively destroyed by extreme temperatures or radio frequencies), and even opt for hysterectomies.
Especially when up to 10% of women say that their period pain is so severe that it affects their life.
But like good, strong women – well, we power through don’t we? When we should be in bed with Netflix, clutching the stabbing pain in our stomach, we endure the agony and stand on the stifling hot train to the office. It’s what we’ve been taught to do our entire lives.
The potential move from Spain is the first legal entitlement of its kind in Europe, following the likes of Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Zambia and Indonesia who already grant paid menstrual leave.
With a law like this in place, it would hopefully mean that less women would call in sick, having their pay docked, or face warnings for an absence that is completely out of their control – ultimately affecting career progression.
The catch? The three-day sick leave for severe period pain will only be allowed with a doctor’s note. Women will somehow have to prove they’re in debilitating pain, and ‘mild period pain’ isn’t covered by the mandate.
All we want is for our pain to be taken seriously. Is that not enough?
While it looks great on paper for Spain, I laugh at the prospect of calling my GP at 8am on the first day of my period to join the 40-minute wait to potentially get an appointment in three weeks time.
It’s simply not feasible. And, in some circumstances, three days won’t be enough.
I worry about women in deemed ‘high-flying’, high-pressure business jobs, too, populated by often older, ‘old-fashioned’ male leaders. Alan Sugar recently hit the roof and said ‘lazy gits make me sick’ when PwC announced its staff were getting off at lunchtime on Fridays, so how the hell are they going to react to women calling in about gushing blood and nausea?
In 2016, Italian parliament put forward a similar proposal but it failed to gain traction and sparked discussion about discrimination – with worries that companies would ultimately have a preference to hire men, instead.
Women simply aren’t trusted. They’re not trusted to take time off when their period pain affects their productivity; and if this bill goes ahead in Spain, they’d need proof that they can’t work.
While I welcome this potential draft bill, and encourage Western countries to follow suit, there needs to be more. More trust in women, more measures in place by companies to make sure women are listened to and represented – and more confidence in us.
People who menstruate want nothing more than to call their boss when they’re in pain, and be assured while they rest up in bed that they’re not losing out on money, or that next promotion.
All we want is for our pain to be taken seriously. Is that not enough?
Until then, the cupboards will be stocked with painkillers and anti-inflammatories, with chocolate and the hot water bottle poised.
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