The long overdue menstrual leave

Our country is far away from legislating provisions concerning menstrual leave. The very concept of menstrual leave is a neglected and overlooked issue in Bangladesh. According to a report of the International Labor Organisation titled 'World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2018', 28.4% of women in Bangladesh are employed. Hence, menstruation leave is a topic worth bringing to the limelight.

Agonising menstrual cramps also known as dysmenorrhea has a major impact on a woman's work productivity, daily chores, and health in general. The pain can be mild to severe, accompanied by nausea, fatigue, back pain, and even diarrhoea. According to research conducted by the American Academy of Family Physicians, dysmenorrhea affects approximately 20% of women in the world. 10% of women suffer from endometriosis, a uterine tissue disorder which results in pelvic pain and worsens period symptoms. John Guillebaud, professor of reproductive health at the University of College London said that period pain can be as "bad as having a heart attack."

Research conducted by Acta Biomedica, titled 'Dysmenorrhea in adolescents and young adults: a review in different country' depicts that 59.8% of women in Bangladesh suffer from dysmenorrhea. Our female workforce is not only engaged in white-collar work. Women working in manual labor and at bourgeoisie industries are particularly at a disadvantage when it comes to access to clean water, toilet, and sanitary products. Approximately 70% of Bangladeshi textile workers are women. Dhaka-based NGO "Karmojibi Nari" remarked in a study that 95% of workers get no recess in their 10-hour shift apart from lunch. There are uncountable anecdotes of women facing uncomfortable and humiliating circumstances at the workplace owing to menstruation. These give us a background on why it is high time for Bangladesh to incorporate period leave in the Labor Act, 2006.

Section 115 of the 2006 Act offers ten days casual leave with maximum wages. Pursuant to Section 116, an employee will get annually fourteen days of sick leave with pay. Under Sections 117 and 118 annual and festive leaves are provided. Sections 45-50 of the aforementioned Act enumerates maternity benefit and leave. Bangladesh Labor (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been enacted amalgamating the Labor Rules, 2015 to make the 2006 Act more time-befitting. Though it includes specifications for reasonable behavior towards working women, it does not consider the inconveniences arising from menstruation for paid leave. It was reiterated in Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) v. Bangladesh and others 14 BLC (2009) 694 that fundamental rights guaranteed in Chapter III of the Constitution are sufficient to embrace all the elements of gender equality. It is time for our legislators to take this into account and provide a paid leave for fixed days during menstruation in the 2006 Act.

Paid menstrual leave has been guaranteed in several Asian countries namely Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and Taiwan. Article 68 of the Labor Standards Law in Japan coined the concept of paid menstrual leave for women in 1947. Article 71 of the Labor Standards Law in South Korea not only provides menstrual leave but also additional pay if a woman does not take the entitled leave. The Act of Gender Equality in Employment of Taiwan gives women annually three days of menstrual leave. The "Menstruation Benefit Bill 2017" having provision of two days paid menstrual leave per month was tabled at Lok Sabha in India. 

It is pertinent to note that discussions regarding menstrual leave have always been fraught with arguments regarding gender equity at the workplace and reverse discrimination. It is often pointed out that menstruation leave will make companies less inclined to hire female employees and give them positions of authority. These are the same fallacies that are put forward maternity leave. Associating menstrual leave with female participation at the workforce looks a bit incongruent. Women constitute 44.5% of the workforce in Japan and the country has a menstrual leave policy since 1947. South Korea where women make up 42.1% of the workforce precedes such a policy as well. In an ideal world based on the ideals of gender equality, the debate concerning menstrual leave should not really exist. Unfortunately, employment policies for workplaces have always been adopted by patriarchal society. The norms, policies, standards of productivity, and codes of conduct are mostly made keeping men in mind. 

Suriya Tarannum Susan

Student of law, University of Chittagong