Just this past December Spain announced that they would be making a law that offered paid menstrual leave for those who suffer from painful periods. This is the first country in Europe to implement this and one of the few in the world. The only other countries to offer this are Southeastern Asian countries such as Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. So why is the rest of Europe and the United States seemingly behind on this step toward women’s rights? Are there other rights that women are missing out on in these areas?
Paid menstrual leave has been a debate since the 1920s. There have been many arguments against and for it. Many popular reasons given against it are that it could be seen as “sexist” because it shows women have a “weakness” and may be seen as “special treatment” and unequal. Other arguments have included that it is unprofessional and or women are “less efficient” because they need to take time off for periods. Arguments for it have been concerning the extreme pains that most with a uterus endure and have to pretend is not there, from PCOD to endometriosis.
Several prominent news outlets such as the New York Post and CNN have commented on what this has been like in Japan. Many women in these articles have commented that although it is nice to know they theoretically could take time off due to extreme period pain they feel that it is just not applicable because of how people at work respond to it. Many of these women commented on how if they took time off it typically led to sexual harassment because their male co-workers knew when their periods were and would tease them as well as people just saying that they were faking it to get out of work. But should it be this way?
Put simply, no… no it should not. Many women really struggle with their periods and feel that they are forced by society to “just deal with it” or ignore it which has led many of them to ignore the warning signs of things such as endometriosis because they have been told that the pain “is not that bad.” This can lead to many women putting themselves in horrible situations that may affect their health long-term such as becoming infertile due to not getting the treatment they really need or having severe hormonal imbalances that affect their daily lives. Many women also try to avoid these issues by going on birth control which in many cases can make things much worse because of all the negative side effects.
Women should not feel the pressure to show up to work when they are having these issues just because it does not fit society’s “golden standard” for women. Those without a uterus just simply don’t go through this so it makes sense for women to be allowed to have paid time off for it. This isn’t about equality it’s about equity. Women shouldn’t not get this time off just because it’s not the same for men, they should get this time off because it is potentially stopping them from receiving the same opportunities as men if they are just in extreme pain at work.
In Spain, the news of paid menstrual leave has been received quite well and the problem in Japan, for the moment anyway, does not seem to be an issue. If they can implement it in a way that keeps women from feeling that they can’t use it without being discriminated against then the rest of the world may very well have a shot at starting to implement this. Only time will truly tell, but they seem to be ahead of the rest of the world in this part of women’s rights. This isn’t the only area that Spain is ahead of us in though. Maternity leave is another big issue that is not dealt with very well in the United States and some parts of Europe. Luckily most of Europe is pretty good about maternity leave in first-world countries, but they are less so in middle to low-income countries.
Spain’s maternity leave is required by law to be at a bare minimum of 16 paid weeks for both parents and this can be extended in certain situations. In the United States, the best you will get is 8 unpaid weeks depending on the company and only for the mother. In most parts of Europe, you can get 12-26 weeks of paid time leave for a newborn. The United States just does not compare to Europe’s first-world countries which does make one concerned for the United States. We need to make more people aware of this so that we can hopefully change it. So why do you think the United States is behind in women’s rights? And what rights do you think really need to be implemented?
