By Your Leave
- By Catherine Blom-Smith
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- 01 Oct, 2018
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How can your period affect your work? And should it?
This month, we’re talking about taking time off work. Wait,
what? I thought all the instas featuring
#summerlook, #restingbeachface and #girlstrip were behind us. It’s Halloween, blankets
and #PSL time. But don’t worry: I’m talking about annual leave. Yes, if you’re
employed by a company in the UK, it’s that thing they’re obliged to offer.
But what about annual leave for periods?
This means time off, built into a company’s policy, to allow people who menstruate to take time off to surf the crimson wave.
When you think about it, menstrual leave makes perfect sense. Being able to bow out gracefully (or not so gracefully, clutching a family-size Dairy Milk laced with Nurofen and screaming “See you on the other side!”) when your period comes would be so handy. Being able to check out without having to face a ‘return to work’ interview, a guilty conscience, and your colleagues asking what happened to that cute pair of white jeans you used to love (RIP).
Might this cause problems?
Granted, there are a few possible reasons that people who menstruate might be reluctant to take leave: because there is still stigma surrounding periods, there might be worries that workers are less likely to be employed if they’re thought to be ‘unreliable’, or perhaps miss out on that big meeting or valuable job enhancement opportunities. It’s hard enough to find enough hours in the day as it is: everyone has busy lives these days, and many jobs require those who identify as women to work twice as hard as their male colleagues to earn half the credit.
Some would argue that awarding menstrual leave implies that menstruation is some kind of disease or affliction. That those menstruating should remove themselves from society for the duration. This doesn't really hold up under any kind of scrutiny, as everyone experiences periods differently, and menstrual leave would be an optional parachute out of work, to avoid hurtling to the ground at an ever-increasing speed like that scene in Point Break (what, too dated? I set the bar too high with that #PSL thing earlier).
How would it affect employers?
In fact, menstrual leave might cut down absenteeism (unexplained or otherwise) as women feel their periods are accepted at work and then can take the time they need rather than working in pain or avoiding work out of shame and having to give an explanation that others might be embarrassed to hear.
As for lost ‘woman hours’, I think efficiency wins out: what would you rather in an employee? One who works twenty-four days a month, five or six of which are, productively speaking, a write off, or one who works twenty days a month at full steam?
Every person manages their periods differently: therefore, every person would use menstrual leave differently. It is wrong to penalise those who experience the most pain or inconvenience because it upsets the workplace equilibrium. In fact, organisations work best when their employees are happy: it’s not rocket science.
What good would it do?
Crucially, introducing annual period leave as a compulsory part of leave to companies in the UK would bring periods out of the ‘women’s health’ sphere and into the political agenda. This would be a huge step towards normalising and destigmatising periods, something that No More Taboo aims to do as part of its mission to create a period-friendly world for all. So talk to your boss, your colleagues, your local UPS delivery person! Getting periods out into the open will help millions of people around the world, but even if you just convince Dave from the post office, that matters. Now, back to my #PSL.
WOW Women of the World festivals have been popping up across the world, if you get the chance to go along to one we would strongly recommend it.
WOW – Women of the World festival celebrates women and girls, and looks at the obstacles that stop them from achieving their potential.
Around the world, individuals and communities are insisting on the simple proposition that women and girls must have equal rights and asking the question: why is gender equality taking so long?
Southbank Centre's WOW – Women of the World festival is a global network of festivals which provides a platform for celebrating what has been achieved, and exploring all the ways we can change the world for the better.
What’s not to love?
Our Founder, Chloe, and her Mum Angela went along to represent No More Taboo with a stall across the two days. Here’s her highlights:
“Although we didn’t get much time to take in all the discussions as we were kept busy wo-manning the stall (thanks Mum for helping out)! We had some great discussions around gender, equality, inclusivity and of course periods with new customers, supporters, other panellists and some old friends who came to see us.
In fact, we were really pleased to catch up with Plan International UK who were opening the festival with a discussion about Period Activism exactly one year on since the launch of our #BreaktheBarriers research and Period Poverty Conference that we ran in collaboration with Plan.
On the first weekend of September, No More Taboo set up shop at Lush Cribbs Causeway for their Charity Pot weekend.
The Lush Charity Pot is a wonderfully creamy shea-butter hand lotion where all the sales money (excluding VAT) goes towards a chosen charity or non-for-profit. This scheme is designed to help boost grass-roots, small and local organisations, like ourselves, financially so that we can continue to do the work we do such as our Tackling Period Poverty programme.
As we were Lush’s chosen organisation for the weekend of the 1-2 September, one of our volunteers, Iloni, and one of our advisors, Carolyn, went along to wo-man the (suitably Lush-styled aesthetic) stall that Lush had kindly provided for us. We took along a range of our products, stacks of leaflets and information as well as our enthusiasm for talking about all things to do with periods.
Over the weekend, we sold over £200’s worth of stock with Ruby Cups and Honour Your Flow re-usable pads proving most popular with Lush customers. On top of this, Lush sold so many of their Charity Pots that £340.60 was raised for No More Taboo – which was amazing!
However exciting the money side of things were with this event, what I personally took away as being the real highlight of the weekend was the number and nature of conversations we shared with customers.
Mothers and daughters came and chatted to us about how they agreed it was so important to use re-usable products for personal and financial reasons as well as for the planet’s sake. Boyfriends accompanied their other halves as they prodded and probed the range of menstrual cups on display. Older women commented on how it’s such a relief to be able to talk about menstruation in public and with people you’ve only just met. They regaled of a time when periods were even more hush-hush and celebrated with us out mission of there being No More Taboo.
We would like to thank Lush Cribbs Causeway for being such wonderful hosts, encouraging every customer that came through their doors to consider buying the Charity Pot or simply to chat with us. Each member of their staff team was incredibly warm and so keen to find out more about what we do. On behalf of all of us at No More Taboo, thank you.
For more information, take a look at their website: https://www1.uwe.ac.uk/whatson/biggreenweek.aspx
Read more here: https://www.wen.org.uk/environmenstrual-week-of-action/
