Discussing your menstrual problems at the workplace is better for everyone, says

German researcher and menstrual health worker Katharina Eggert.

– BY KATHARINA EGGERT –

Although women* regularly experience symptoms related to their menstruation, little

attention is given to the way periods can affect them in their workplace. Women
account for about half of the labour-force in Europe. However, periods aren’t openly
discussed in the workplace and are sometimes even tabooed. This is worrisome for
women who need help in managing their periods, because many of them feel too
unwell to go to work but still feel the pressure to go.

Why is it so important to discuss your period problems at the workplace?

Although some women are lucky enough to feel no period-related symptoms, many
experience complaints before or during their menstruation, which make them less
able to concentrate or work productively. Researchers estimate that around 50% of
women in their reproductive age experience pain during their menstruation and 20-
40% suffer from premenstrual symptoms. Yet, studies have also shown that women
who stay home from work when feeling sick during their period don’t feel like they
can be open about it; some even make up other reasons of absence.

Often, women feel guilty about missing out on work and try to make up for the lost
working day by overcompensating. Doing more than would be necessary and
overworking, just because menstruation isn’t always seen as a legitimate reason of
absence, leads to stress and a bad work-life balance. Unfortunately, stress is the first
thing to influence the hormonal system, and can often make symptoms a lot worse.
This could easily be prevented by making the discussion about periods at work more
normal.

An aspect often neglected when it comes to how periods are tabooed at work, is that
it also influences families. Women who have a poor work-life balance can easily feel
overwhelmed with tasks related to their social and domestic surroundings. The lack
of flexible working conditions during menstruation also forces many women to work
part-time, although they want to work full-time, leading to a lower household income.
Overall, menstrual health is one of the big factors of women’s overall health and can
have an impact on many aspects of their lives, so why don’t we dare to speak about
it?

What can be done to create a period friendly workplace?

First of all, it’s necessary to become educated about menstrual health and the way it
can affect employees. If resources found online aren’t enough, it makes sense to get
guidance from a professional  advisor. A first step for employers is to actively
encourage women to speak up if they have trouble to manage their work during their
period. Next up: allow for more flexibility. Many women find it helpful to work from
home or work less hours during their menstrual days. Some women would even wish
to take the whole day off, with the possibility to (partly) make up for it later.

Most importantly, it has to be made clear that there will be no discrimination against
anyone who is openly talking about their menstrual health. Ideally, this would also
hold for employees with health conditions that aren’t related to menstruation,
because menstrual health problems aren’t the only stigmatised health condition.

Another important message would be to offer period care products in the women’s
bathrooms and to assign a quiet place where employees can take some time for
themselves (especially in open offices). This already shows women that their basic
period needs are acknowledged.

What can women do to manage their period at work?

Women can try to plan ahead and avoid important meetings or presentations on the
first day of their period or when they expect to feel symptoms. Tracking the
menstrual cycle is a powerful tool to do that and luckily, there are plenty of apps for
this nowadays. To be more comfortable when going to work during their period,
women should take it slow and allow themselves breaks whenever possible and
ideally go for a little walk. If that’s not possible, they can go to a quiet place and
stretch a bit, especially the lower abdomen because that relieves tension and
cramps.

Although women generally feel more tired during their period, it’s better to avoid
consuming too much caffeine. Relaxing teas like chamomile or ginger are better.
Before resorting to painkillers, which can lead to brain fog, magnesium can be an
easy fix for weaker period cramps. Another way to relieve pain is by using a hot
water bottle; these also exist in mini sizes.

In general, women should tell their surroundings if they aren’t able to perform certain
tasks that day and delegate them or work from home if possible. Overworking when
experiencing menstrual symptoms requires a lot of energy and creates stress. This
can have a negative effect on both hormonal balance and mental health. It’s
important to keep in mind that women’s productivity isn’t always steady. The days
around ovulation are usually the days during which women thrive at work and easily
make up for lost productivity during menstruation.

How does this help your employer, too?

Employers also benefit from allowing their menstruating employees to be more

flexible during their period. Acknowledging women’s needs regarding their periods
can even be seen as a new workplace benefit. This has the potential to attract skilled
female employees and to keep valuable employees. The latter is already a big cost
saver, because training new employees takes long and is expensive.

Apart from that, employers make sure to keep their employees’ working productivity
high. With small adjustments, women can incorporate their periods better in their
work setting, which allows them to be more productive. Additionally, women who feel
like their employer trusts them to work in the setting they prefer during their period
are more committed and motivated.

How does this help society?

Finally, even society benefits from adjusted work settings for menstruating women.
First of all, more women could work more hours if they want to, which contributes to
the country’s economic growth. For a lot of women this also means being more
financially independent and therefore less dependent on any kind of governmental
financial aid. Most importantly, reducing the stress for women who have problems to
function at work during their period is a crucial way of preventing illness. As a
consequence, health-care utilisation costs are lower and more women become
enabled to work.

Last but certainly not least, normalising the discussion about periods at the
workplace is necessary to create equal employment opportunities for women. It has
to be understood that menstruating women are neither less reliable nor performing
worse, just differently! Men and women should be treated equally at the workplace,
but that doesn’t mean they should function in the same way. Biological differences
have to be acknowledged and embraced, because they allow for more diverse
approaches and perspectives.

*not all women menstruate and not everyone who menstruates identifies as a
woman
 In August, the online food delivery service Zomato introduced 10 days of
period leave for menstruating employees. The move was widely lauded but
it also sparked some questions.
 Is there a right time to offer period leave?
 What’s the right way to implement the policy?
 Will period leave disincentive the hiring of women and transgender
people?
 Will taking period leave affect the productivity of menstruating
employees?
Before I answer these questions, let me share a personal experience.
The year was 2012. Amity University had just launched a campus in Dubai
and hired me to teach a management course. Before I could learn the
names of fellow faculty members, however, I got a circular from the
human resources person instructing all women professors to follow a
Western “dress code”. Most of the women were Hindu, transferred from
the Delhi campus, but there were a handful of Pakistani and Arab Muslims
as well. The faculty members who wore a veil were exempted, apparently
because Amity couldn’t enforce a dress code on them in a Muslim
majority nation. For the rest of us, who dressed in saree or salwar kameez
and, occasionally, business suit, there was no way out.
We gathered in the cafeteria to discuss the circular and came to the
conclusion that it was unacceptable. Firstly because our contracts didn’t
specify a dress code. Secondly because it was demeaning if our worthiness
was to be judged by short skirts and pants instead of our knowledge. I had
previously taught in the United Kingdom and even there, a Western
country, women were not required to follow such a dress code.
Although we were all outraged, nobody would speak up for fear of losing
their job. It was my naivety perhaps that I decided to take up the matter
with the HR person. I sent her an email – and copied it to everyone who
had got her circular – arguing against the dress code directive.
One, I pointed out, our contracts didn’t mention a dress code. Two, most
of us were of menstruating age and we wanted to be able to dress as per
our convenience and comfort. None of us wanted to be forced into short
skirts and pants. All hell broke loose.
I was promptly called for a meeting in the vice chancellor’s office, and
seated across from him while the HR person stood close by. I had barely
settled in my chair when the vice chancellor started screaming at me,
saying he was appalled by my email and calling me “shameless”.
Unable to fathom the reason for his outrage, I asked what I had done
wrong.
“What if male faculty members see your email in which you are talking
about periods, etc?” he thundered.
I was mystified. All male faculty members were adult men and not
underage boys. Didn’t they know women bled? By arguing against an
obligatory dress code for our bleeding bodies, had I committed a crime?
Appalled, I took them to court. They eventually settled by not asking back
my first month’s salary. I returned to the UK, still in shock.
That was eight years ago. Has much changed since?
Soon after Zomato announced period leave for its menstruating
employees, Barkha Dutt, easily India’s most recognisable woman
journalist, deemed it a bad idea. Women are strong, she argued, and they
shouldn’t be deterred from work by bleeding or period pain.
She misses the point. Because a woman can endure pain does not mean
she should have to work through it. The capacity to endure pain, in any
case, varies among women. Dutt’s argument, in other words, negates a
woman’s agency.
Around the same time, the Wire featured a discussion on period leave by
Damini Yadav, Bhasha Singh and Kavita Krishnan. It was positive but
mostly from an advocacy point of view. A practical, corporate view was
missing. It’s in the workplace, after all, that the policy has to be
implemented.
And the Indian workplace, as Feminism in India pointed out in a series of
articles, is either rife with gender bias or exists largely outside the formal
economy, meaning period leave is a distant dream for workers from the
lower classes.
 At the same time, women’s participation in the workforce has been
steadily declining, going down from 42.7 percent in 2004-05 to 23.3
percent in 2017-18. This despite rising literacy and falling fertility rates.
In this context, what effect will period leave have on working women?
As a feminist, I am all for period leave. It is empowering. But as an
academic with a background in economics and corporate ethics, I must
engage with the counterview: that the market doesn’t care much for what
is right but only for what’s more productive. Seen from this perspective,
period leave will disincentivise the hiring of women and transgender
people in today’s capitalistic order, which largely measures productivity in
working hours.
Can these opposing viewpoints be reconciled? Can a “business case” be
made for period leave?
It can be, yes. From the corporate perspective, there are three key
arguments for why giving employees period leave can be good for
business.
1. Productivity: Studies have shown that giving workers more time off
actually increases productivity. Moreover, in this post-industrial society,
“productivity” is being redefined. No longer is it strictly about what’s
produced per hour. So, the notion that allowing employees a few extra
days off during their menstrual cycles will render them less productive
doesn’t hold.
2. Profitability: Research has shown that companies with greater
gender diversity are more productive. And having a period leave policy in
place will likely make a company more attractive to prospective women
employees.
3. Brand perception: A diverse workforce can help enhance a
company’s brand image. If consumers see a company valuing employees
from minority groups and making the workplace easier to navigate, they
would regard it positively. Consider, for example, the positive coverage
that Zomato got from merely announcing a period leave policy. Such
coverage earns a company public goodwill and raises their market profile
as well.
But even if companies were sold on introducing period leave, would it
actually benefit women?
 One way of assessing whether a proposed policy would succeed is to see
how it fared in the past. In recent years, several studies have been done to
assess the impact of period leave policies in Japan, Taiwan, China, South
Korea, Indonesia, Zambia, and Mexico. They have found that:
 Such policies only work in societies that don’t deeply hold
heteropatriarchal beliefs.
 In some places, men become hypercompetitive and seek to advance
their careers at the cost of women’s wellbeing.
 Many women end up not using period leave for fear of being seen as
a liability or losing a promotion or a pay raise. Some are wary of being
outed as “bleeding”.
 Women who openly disclose their menstruating days are more prone
to discrimination and harassment.
So, should period leave not be introduced?
The answer lies in implementation. The effectiveness of a period leave
policy is in large part determined by the following factors:
 Careful wording: In Zambia, women get a day of menstrual leave
per month. It is called “Mother’s Day”, which stresses a woman’s potential
to become a mother. Not everyone who menstruates wants to or can
become a mother. Hence, when policies get reductionist in this way, being
progressive is just performative.
 Gender sensitivity training: In Britain, men did not become
hypercompetitive when period leave was introduced as they did in Japan.
At a company called Coexist UK, the subject of a 2018 study on period
leave in the country, “men expressed no resentment, and instead said they
liked the fact that menstruation was addressed openly, and felt it gave
them permission to also adjust their working day to their bodies when
needed”.
 Alternatives to period leave: Coexist UK has period leave and it
also offers alternatives to the leave in the form of restrooms or quiet areas
where employees can go and rest when they aren't feeling well. They can
also opt to work from home. If they come in to work, the office bathrooms
are stocked with feminine hygiene products, pain relievers, and hot water
 bottles. As of 2017, only seven of the 13 menstruating staffers had used
period leave because the company provided them alternatives.
Clearly then, when it comes to period leave, we need to look at the context
in which such a policy is implemented, its consequences on employees,
and overall impact on progress.
Some commentators have argued that our society will eventually accept
period leave like it has maternity leave, so there’s really no reason why it
should not be implemented forthwith. Parental leave was similarly seen as
a privilege once but now it is seen as a right in the developed world, and
gradually in the developing world as well.
This argument is rather simplistic for the following reasons:
 Period leave doesn’t compare with maternity leave because while
our society places motherhood on a pedestal, menstruation is still regarded
with shame and disgust. Studies have shown that while men glorify a
woman for taking leave to become a mother, they vilify the same woman
when she would take time off for her periods. So, societal attitudes
towards sexism are important.
 In spite of our veneration of motherhood, research has shown that
women face hostility and discrimination for taking maternity leave.
Canada has had to introduce a “stay in touch” programme to counter
maternity-related discrimination. Under this programme, women on
maternity leave can still make decisions about and supervise part of their
job, so that they do not lag behind fellow workers and are not seen as a
liability.
 One way to counter hostility to maternity leave is to offer men
paternity leave of equal duration. It might not necessarily work, however.
In Canada, only 13 percent of men eligible for parental leave had availed it
by 2018 as compared to 91 percent women. This is because women still do
the lion's share of child rearing.
Still, for India’s workforce, period leave is a positive development. At the
very least, the introduction of such policies helps mainstream discussions
about menstruation. This is crucial because no matter how good a period
leave policy is, it’s unlikely to work as long as there’s social stigma
around menstruation. My own experience at Amity is illustrative.
In conclusion, period leave is good for menstruators, good for employers,
and good for business. But some conditions apply.

Women make up 41% of its workforce; Mu Sigma

trails at a distant 2nd with 30%
A study of 10,000 white-collared employees of Indian technology
start-ups by talent acquisition platform Belong revealed that
Zomato leads the pack with 41 per cent women in its workforce,
followed by Mu Sigma at 30 per cent, and InMobi at 29 per cent.
Rishabh Kaul, co-founder of Belong, told BusinessLine: “One of
the recurrent themes from our 70 customers was their need to create
gender diversity in the workplace.
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ST AR T M Y FRE E TRI AL

“However, they had a hard time finding female candidates for roles
across levels. Before building a diversity tool that could assist our
customers to proactively recruit women, we wanted to know which
of them were most gender diverse.”
The tech start-ups that were considered for the study are: Flipkart,
Snapdeal, Zomato, Quikr, InMobi, Mu Sigma, Zoho, ShopClues,
Paytm and Ola. Kaul said four of Belong’s 10-member executive
team were women.
Zomato which has seven women in top management roles — COO,
Vice-President -Finance, Vice-President - Recruitment, Chief of
Staff – Product, Vice-President - HR, Vice-President - PR and
Communications, and Assistant Vice-President - Neutrality — has
no specific gender diversity agenda in place.
“We focus on hiring the best talent and getting the best fit for the
role, and are very happy that 41 per cent of our 1,000 employees are
women,” said Pankaj Chaddah, co-founder, Zomato.
Kevin Freitas, HR Head at InMobi, said: “While gender diversity is
definitely on our agenda, we focus more on increasing thought
diversity in our company. All three of our recruitment managers for
technology, product and sales are women. Our gender diversity
percentage is set to touch 33 per cent this year.”
Belong’s customers are also looking at bringing in diversity in
specific teams such asengineering, product management, analytics
and marketing that are currently dominated by men.
HR Manager at RazorPay, Anuradha Bharat, who feels talent has to
be infused with diversity in order to build a strong team, said:
“Around 25 per cent of our team’s strength today can be attributed
to women spread across all domains of our business.”
Focus on deliverables

Nirmala Menon, founder CEO, Interweave Consulting, who has

made it to the top 50 Global Diversity List by The Economist, said:
“Indian technology start-ups are focussed on deliverables and will
hire the best talent, be it a man or a woman, and don’t really care
whether they deliver it from office or home, as long as it is
delivered.
“In the process, they are addressing a larger talent pool that includes
both men and women, and unlike large organisations, have no
systemic biases while hiring. Women like this flexible work culture
and once they get comfortable at work, it is much easier to retain
them, compared to men.”