Menstrual stigma socially conditions menstruators to conceal menstruation and avoid discussion about it.

In my lecturing within the Faculty for Social Well-being, this is an issue that crops up regularly with my students.

The social unacceptability of the discussion of menstrual symptoms can result in societal pressure to keep menstrual distress a secret from co-workers and health professionals alike. Therefore, menstrual leave may offer women the opportunity to speak up about their menstrual-cycle-related health issues, reducing stigma and encouraging more open discussion of menstruation.

It may further be of benefit to individuals who menstruate who live with menstrual-cycle-related conditions such as dysmenorrhea, endometriosis, ovarian cysts and mood disorders.

Not all menstruators are women, therefore, fair policies would need to include queer individuals. 

Individuals who identify as gender queer/non-binary or as transmen may feel an increased amount of safety if offered menstrual leave because menstruation may be a time in which these individuals face increased amounts of transphobia and other types of gender discrimination.

Yet, although policies must be inclusive and provide options for confidential disclosure, there is no information on whether menstrual leave has been or will be offered to menstruators who do not identify as women.

However, although menstrual leave may benefit menstruators in some ways, it may also produce a number of unintended negative implications for menstruators, such as perpetuating sexist beliefs and attitudes, contributing to menstrual stigma and perpetuating gender stereotypes, negatively impacting the gendered wage gap and reinforcing the medicalisation of menstruation.

There is a scarcity of research on the effects of these policies on menstruators and menstrual stigma, as well as on the places of employment that are offering them.

Furthermore, there is no research to date on the ways in which menstrual leave may be counterproductive to the overall welfare of menstruators through unintended consequences, such as discrimination in hiring practices, salaries or wages, and promotion.

Menstrual leave brings menstruation to light in the workplace.

As such, it violates the cultural mandate to keep menstruation concealed.

Thus, those who opt to use menstrual leave may put themselves at risk because they may violate cultural norms about menstrual non-disclosure.

The discussion on menstrual leave must be understood in the context of societies in which menstruation has been used to marginalise and oppress women and other menstruators through the process of objectification and the ideology of sexism. 

Benevolent sexism can be hard to detect and may not activate negative or hostile feelings, but perpetuates a patriarchal system- Claire Azzopardi Lane

Spain has just introduced a law that gives the right to a three-day menstrual leave of absence with the possibility of extending it to five days. The leave requires a doctor’s note and the public social security system will foot the bill.

However, workers who take advantage of menstrual leave policies could be perceived more negatively than those who do not use the policy.

This can be explained by benevolent and hostile sexism which assumes that women do not belong in the workplace.

Benevolent sexism implies that menstruation is a sign of womanhood and feminine fragility and reinforces the stereotype that women’s purpose in life is to bear children.

Benevolent sexism can be hard to detect and may not activate negative or hostile feelings; however, it does perpetuate a patriarchal system of gendered power dynamics.

The potential implications of menstrual leave may be determined by how a policy is both worded and implemented; that is, the intentions that underlie the creation of such a policy can determine the outcome.

For example, discussion about menstruation among all employees may foster support for women’s reproductive health and reproductive rights, and may help educate people about menstruation since so many misconceptions circulate throughout heteropatriarchal culture.

Therefore, the language used in menstrual leave policies must be created with the intention of ensuring that the policy fosters normalisation and open discussion of menstruation, and does not perpetuate objectification, sexism, and patriarchal misconceptions about menstruation.

Not recognising hidden health issues, associated with women's reproductive health undermines women's rights.  Women who are active in women's rights groups as well as in workers' unions are demanding that such health issues are considered as occupational health and safety issues and given their due importance.

Assessing the pros and cons of menstrual leave can serve as an entry point to discussions about workplace culture and accommodations that extend to other stigmatised health conditions, so that the menstrual policies do not perpetuate discrimination.

In order for menstrual leave policies to be fully beneficial to menstruators’ well-being, cultural beliefs about and attitudes toward menstruation must change.

Thus, menstrual stigma must be continuously challenged and heteropatriarchal beliefs dismantled.

Adapted from the work of Rachel B. Levitt and Jessica L. Barnack-Tavlaris (2020).

Claire Azzopardi Lane is a senior lecturer at the department of Gender and Sexualities, Faculty for Social Well-being, University of Malta.