Menstruation- More Than "Just A Ladies Thing" - Infano

Highlights

Menstruation – and the tools required to safely process it – became just another means to discriminate against an entire gender, simply because patriarchy felt nauseated by a natural human phenomenon.

Stigma, like charity, begins at home.

Imagine if someone told an inquisitive kid, “it’s the superpower that made it possible for your mum to give birth to you”, instead of “it’s private ladies’ stuff, move on”.

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This Content is a Part of The Menstrual Hygiene Awareness 2021, in collaboration with The Logical Indian and Pee Safe.

A black polythene bag is closely tucked under her arm as my mom walks into the house, back from the market. Without a word, she rushes to her room and slides the bag along with its contents, into her wardrobe’s drawer. Then comes back out and takes care of the rest of the stuff she bought. 10-year-old me, as you would’ve guessed, is mighty confused. But I forget all about it; kids and voters have a very short memory span, after all.

Growing up, it was hard to ignore references to menstruation, even though I didn’t know anything about it. I saw ads for Whisper, the same package I’d surreptitiously seen in Mom’s drawer. I wondered why a group of grown men were pouring blue ink all over a product that my child’s brain could fathom was very personal to my Mom and my sisters, when none of them used blue ink. And yet my innocent queries were almost always shot down – “It’s just ladies’ stuff”.

It took a biology lesson at school and exposure to the World Wide Web, for me to realize it’s far more than that. Most crucially, sanitary napkins are a privilege that numerous poorer families can either not afford (non-profits and tax policies are helping bridge this gap) or don’t care about, due to the awkwardness surrounding it. “It’s impure”, they say, as they block menstruating women from entering the temple. Menstruating women in some traditional households are outcasts in their own homes. This awkwardness, this stigma, comes at the cost of women’s health. Menstruation – and the tools required to safely process it – became just another means to discriminate against an entire gender, simply because patriarchy felt nauseated by a natural human phenomenon. Stigma, like charity, begins at home.

It was only years later, when I started dating women, that I was jolted out of my passive stance around the topic of menstruation. I got educated in a way that school, society, and family could never; by someone who needed to share how she felt when PMS’ing, just like she would after a bad day at work. Stigma was thrown out the window, simply through an open conversation. That’s all it took. It helped me learn what women have to go through as they menstruate, and not just physically. I met someone who was shy about admitting that she was menstruating. She instinctively felt a need to hide it, as if hiding a fault in her – feeding off of the stigma that clouds this topic. Professional life, I realized, becomes further hell for women. Taking a day off to tend to menstrual cramps is explicitly allowed, but implicitly considered a liability, restricted to one gender. This problem has a far more complex solution than just changing the rules. Changing the rules doesn’t change deep-rooted biases.

I think the stigma is the root cause of why menstruation is harder to tackle than just the physical side effects of it. Imagine if someone told an inquisitive kid, “it’s the superpower that made it possible for your mum to give birth to you”, instead of “it’s private ladies’ stuff, move on”. I’m sure this kid would grow up to be a better husband, a better boss, a better friend, and a better Dad.

Author- Ashish Jha

Highlights

Why period is still a stigma ?

Why do we need menstrual leave provision at workplaces ?

Globally, 25 million women suffer from endometriosis illness, The illness leads to worst menstrual pain.

Advantages of providing paid menstrual leaves to all the menstruators

Positive effect of providing paid menstrual leave at workplaces.

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I was in an urgent meeting when my cramps just came in a screaming flow. It was so painful that I could feel my insides contorting. I sat on my workstation for at least 30 mins writhing in pain. Yet I could not muster the courage to ask my boss for an early off. I thought It wasn’t a reason enough for a menstrual leave.

This is the story of Aditi; a corporate employee who has learned to deal with the lethal period of pain and meet deadlines simultaneously. Well, This is the shared fate of all the women who have become a silent sufferer instead of standing up for their right to rest during periods

Almost 25 million women have endometriosis illness. This illness leads to the worst menstrual pain. The pain gets so unbearable sometimes that may lead to a person’s death under certain circumstances.

Endometriosis Society India

Why is period still a stigma?

Even several years of concentrated efforts to spread period awareness through articles, discussions, blogs, vlogs, awareness camps, and workshops have done little change only. What is the reason behind stigmatizing menstruation and not doing away with it completely? Here is the answer. Destigmatizing periods will call for facing challenges like menstrual management, adverse reproductive health outcome, social ostracization of women, diseases, and death due to period pain.

In any case, we need to speed up our collective effort to demand a legal framework for menstrual leave law in India

A look at India’s legal framework for menstrual leave.

The Indian legislative has been extremely backward in framing period-friendly policies. Firstly, It was considered an important issue to be brought into the legal arena. Secondly, women had to always put up a good fight to ask even for a bare minimum.

On the other hand, countries like Japan, South Korea, and Italy have always had period-sensitive policies. However, Bihar is the only Indian state to provide special menstrual leave since 1992 through its Human Resource guidelines.

The Menstruation Benefit Bill 2018 tabled in the parliament prescribes two days of menstrual leave every month. However, it is yet to receive assent.

On the other hand, Private companies have been up to speed in implementing period-sensitive policies. Companies like Zomato, Byju’s, Swiggy, Mathubhumi, Magzter, Industry ARC, FlyMyBiz, Gozoop, and iVIPANAN are the nine private companies that provide adopted different frameworks to provide monthly period leaves to their employees.

There is another tangent of discussion on menstrual leaves in the workplace. Though some women have been demanding paid menstrual leave at the workplace, there is another group of women that holds a contrary opinion. They say providing menstrual leave will deepen male preconceptions about a female weakness which will also affect the overall hiring and promotion prospects of women in the workplace.

The issue of menstrual leave tends to a backseat among other issues due to the male dominance in every work sphere. They associate menstrual leave an attack on productivity and outcome.

Why do we need the paid period leaves?

Everybody is built differently and thus responds differently to menstrual pain. The biological complexities should be considered a strong reason to base the provision of paid period leaves in India. Deriding women of rest during periods when they experience excruciating pain not only violates women’s rights but basic human rights as well.

Right to rest: Every menstruator deserves a proper rest and medication(If required) while on periods. To work at the cost of an ailment not only worsens physical health but mental health as well.

Improved productivity: There is an infamous misconception that period leave will affect the productivity of women professionals. In fact, the period leave will leave women to rest and get back to work all fresh and energetic.

Period-sensitive workplace: Workplace policies have been running to and fro on various issues. However, period talk has always been a taboo topic. The provision of the paid period will make the workspaces period sensitive.

Encourage Women professionals: Often women flinch from taking up challenging jobs and companies that are not period friendly. This dwarfs the longitude of their career and personal growth. Period sensitivity at the workplace will encourage women to stretch their potential to the fullest.

It high time for all menstruators to stand up for their right to demand paid period leaves. In a country that has been oscillating between regressive and progressive reforms and ideas, Fighting for menstrual leave is going to be a tough task but nevertheless, We should anticipate victory at the end.

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