“At any rate, when a subject is highly controversial- and any question about sex is that- one cannot hope to tell the truth. One can only show how one came to hold whatever opinion one does hold. One can only give one’s audience the chance of drawing their own conclusions as they observe the limitations, the prejudices, the idiosyncrasies of the speaker.”
– A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf
The new policy of period leaves caused quite a stir on social media in the past few weeks. Many people have been speaking against such leaves, and rightly so. I did not deliberate much when I first came across an article on period leaves.
It felt like an obvious measure taken by a company that can afford to pay its employees and also take a step towards a collective gender sensitized future. Moreover, 10 extra leaves a year which boils down to 1-day leave for 10 months, did sound fair to me, considering the amount of pain and/or discomfort most women feel during their period.
I thought to myself, how different is it from Germany or Australia demanding a four day work week. It also occurred to me that maybe finally women are being welcomed to the workspace as individuals who come with a different biological, mental and physical built and are being respected for it.
So, I was quite taken aback when my mother, one night at the dinner table, looked at me accusingly asking me very simply, “Do I get a holiday from housework when I’m on my period? and, “do we give Laxmi Didi, our house help, a holiday when she’s on her period?” or when my extremely understanding and workaholic boyfriend shot at me “what is your take on the period leaves?”. On providing the same logic as I did above, I was told how he has been suffering from chronic back pain for years and should he also be given a holiday every time he is in pain?
These weren’t irrelevant questions, however, they were severely misunderstood questions. They simply missed out on the point of these leaves. To my mother, I’d like to say, well you should. We have grown up in a culture where as a child I told the guests I was unwell when on my period during dinners or always got pads from chemists covered in newspapers and brown paper bags.
So it makes sense, that in the domestic sphere even in a place like Delhi, there is still a lack of awareness and hesitation as far as the period is concerned. If anything, having such a policy in companies and discourse on the same would just make it a more acceptable and normal thing.
I believe that the trickle-down effect of working women professionals who have been given such leaves, giving leaves to their own staff, will have an empowering effect on homemakers, domestic help etc.
To my friend I’d like to say, yes you should. You should be working in a company that recognizes the biological limitations of employees and is sensitized enough to accept that a person is in pain and may or may not be able to come to work on a particular day without being condemned for it, professionally or otherwise.
After all, what would be a better way to optimally utilize and ensure productive work by employees and job satisfaction than creating a respectful and open work environment? Having said that, when confronted by such close people in my life, I realized that I may not have been as vocal or clear about my pain in my personal space as I should have been. Compassion and empathy can only be expected if one shares their experiences and stories without inhibitions, courageously.
As women, if we lived in a society where we felt comfortable enough to just say out loud that we are on our period and would like to work from home or take a sick leave, confidently, without fearing ridicule by colleagues or being labelled as “weak” for it, that would’ve been ideal.
Given that the women who undergo comparatively less pain and discomfort could go about their work normally, without taking undue advantage. But we don’t. So, it does make a little more sense to me that a step has been taken to bridge the gap from the other side. That some organisations want to include women in their workforce, to keep in mind the biological limitations and prejudices of women.
It is possible that this could be a step towards a work culture, where people of all genders can feel comfortable and understood when it comes to health issues and comfort.