The case for reproductive and menstrual health leave

Women’s engagement with employment is nearly on parity to men’s, yet workplaces have been slow to consider how women’s needs may differ. Australia is leading the way in considering how reproductive health needs can be accommodated through designated leave policies, but there is no consensus on the issue. In today’s piece, University of Sydney (@USydneyEcon, @Sydney_Business) researchers Sydney Colussi (@Sydney_Colussi), Elizabeth Hill (@ElizabethHill00) and Marian Baird (@ProfMarianBaird) make the case for reproductive health leave as a key lever for gender equality in the workplace. This piece originally appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald.

We are taught from a young age that periods are a private, if not shameful, issue. But with women’s labour force participation on the rise, these old attitudes have to change if our workplaces are to be productive and inclusive.

There is increasing appetite for providing dedicated leave days to support menstrual, menopausal and reproductive health in the workplace. Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

One potentially transformative policy response is to offer employees a number of days of paid leave and flexible working arrangements when they experience difficult periods or menopause symptoms. This can help normalise and de-stigmatise menstruation and menopause in the workplace.

The concept of menstrual and reproductive health leave is hotly contested among feminists. Some argue such policies will exacerbate gender discrimination and reinforce harmful stereotypes that women are weak and less capable while menstruating. Extreme caution in the design and implementation of these policies is imperative.

But if we hope to transform our institutions into more gender diverse and inclusive environments that accommodate the menstrual and reproductive health needs of all workers, then menstrual and menopause leave are innovative workplace policies worth considering.

Our research shows this is a controversial but rapidly evolving policy area, in which Australia is emerging as a leader. When the Victorian Women’s Trust introduced a menstrual policy in 2017, allowing employees to work from home or claim a day’s paid leave for menstruation or menopause, other organisations followed suit, including ethical superannuation company Future Super and Modibodi, an Australian-owned sustainable period underwear brand.

And last year, Victoria’s Health and Community Services Union made a world-first claim for reproductive health and wellbeing leave as part of their collective bargaining agenda. The aim of the claim is to provide five days paid leave for men, women and gender diverse people to address a range of reproductive health concerns including dysmenorrhoea, endometriosis and menopause. It seeks to accommodate the menstrual and reproductive health needs of all workers, not just women.

Global interest in reproductive health leave is building. Only last month, Britain’s financial industry launched a landmark survey into the effects of menopause on its female workforce.

Other institutions are already trying to address menstrual inequality. In March, the NSW Department of Education announced a trial program to distribute free pads and tampons in public schools, following the lead of Victoria and South Australia – an initiative that may help address menstrual absenteeism in the education system. Last week the Greens also called on the federal government to allocate $25 million a year to make sanitary products available in all Australian public schools, an important initiative that would likely address period poverty in schools.

More culturally sensitive menstrual education is needed as well; a survey of 659 girls reported this year found one in five menstruating students between the ages of 10-18 years were “too embarrassed” to attend school during their period and 40 per cent said they had received no menstrual education.

Failure to address menstruation at the policy level, in our schools, universities, workplaces and prisons, limits gender equality and also potentially undermines Australia’s obligations to respect and protect the human rights of menstruators, including the rights to education, work and health. It is time to “break the silence, raise awareness and change negative social norms” surrounding menstruation and menopause, so all women can participate in work.

This post is part of the Women's Policy Action Tank initiative to analyse government policy using a gendered lens. View our other policy analysis pieces here.

Posted by @SusanMaury