France has several bills underway to accord sick leave to women suffering from painful periods, a few months after Spain adopted a similar measure.
Source: AFP
Some French companies already offer the possibility of taking a paid leave for painful periods, as the furniture manufacturer Louis Design.
And the municipality of Saint-Ouen, near Paris, has recently offered menstrual leave to its employees suffering from pain or endometriosis.
“We must not stop at individual initiatives, we must generalize this system to all women who need it,” said the environmental deputy Sébastien Peytavie to AFP.
Together with the deputies of her party Marie-Charlotte Garin and Sandrine Rousseau, she launched a consultation on the subject with feminist associations and representatives of the medical and business world.
The objective is prepare a bill to create an indemnified menstrual leave, respecting medical secrecy. The text is scheduled to be presented on May 26.
Socialist Party MPs Mickaël Bouloux and Fatiha Keloua Hachi have also held auditions for the same purpose.
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“The time is right to make this bill in France, interest in the issue is very strong, the population is ready,” Fatiha Keloua Hachi told AFP, who hopes to present the text “as soon as possible.”
According to Aline Boeuf, a doctoral candidate at the University of Geneva, this issue is still not fully accepted in the world of work.
“Women’s experiences, such as menstruation, pregnancy or menopause, are still not taken into account” by businessmen, he points out. According to her, in addition to the menstrual leave, the life of women in companies could improve by putting bins in the toilets or rest areas.
– Women’s health, a “taboo” –
However, This new sick leave could cause “disorganization” in small businesses, points out the French confederation of SMEs (CPME).
Besides, “Not all women experience this period of menstruation in the same way, and those who need it can request a leave” to a doctor, says CPME Vice President Stéphanie Pauzat.
The employers’ organization Medef has a similar opinion and opposes menstrual leave because “it would convey the image that women cannot occupy the same positions as men.”
Feminist organizations also fear a possible backlash and that the creation of a menstrual leave will lead to discrimination against women in hiring.
“It’s a good idea to find an emergency solution for women with painful periods or endometriosis, but the problem must be addressed in its entirety,” says Maud Leblon, director of the Règles Elémentaires association, which fights against menstrual precariousness and taboo of the rule.
Specifically, you think it is necessary to “know better” and “treat better” the pathologies that affect women, like endometriosis.
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It is estimated that around one in ten women suffer from this chronic inflammatory gynecological disease, which can manifest itself through heavy periods and severe pain.
“Women’s health has long been ignored and taboo,” French equality minister Isabelle Rome said in a statement sent to AFP.
“It is imperative that it never again be a source of insecurity or an obstacle to reconciling personal and professional life,” he said.
The French government launched in January a national strategy to fight endometriosis, which includes a research program of several million euros.
Regarding the initiatives of the deputies to create a menstrual leave, “we will be able to give our opinion” when the proposals have been presented “and we have visibility on their content,” said the minister.
