Spain debating ‘menstrual leave’ policy for employees

A new government proposal could make Spain the first European country to offer “menstrual leave” to employees. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government is expected to include the menstrual leave as part of a draft bill on reproductive health.

“We will recognise in the law the right to leave for women who have painful periods that will be financed by the state,” Equality Minister Irene Montero tweeted Friday. “There are women who cannot work and live normally because they have really painful periods.”

The proposed law would introduce at least three days’ sick pay each month for women who suffer from severe period pains, the daily newspaper El Pais and other media that have seen the draft bill reported.

The work leave could be extended to five days for women with particularly disabling periods if they have a medical certificate, the reports said.

José Luis Escrivá, Spain’s minister for inclusion, social security and migration, asked people to manage their expectations, describing the leaked proposal as a draft that was still “under discussion” within the coalition government.

Spain’s secretary of state for equality, Ángela Rodríguez, floated the idea of providing some sort of menstrual leave in March. “It’s important to be clear about what we mean by painful period,” she told El Periódico newspaper. “We’re not talking about a slight discomfort, but about serious symptoms such as diarrhea, fever and bad headaches.”

The issue has raised concern that this could cause employers to prefer hiring men. “You have to be careful with this type of decision,” said Cristina Antonanzas, deputy secretary of the trade union UGT, adding this could indirectly impact “women’s access to the labour market.”

Ana Ferrer, of the Association of Victims of Endometriosis, a condition that can lead to more severe menstrual symptoms, also expressed concerns that the measure would lead to “discrimination” against women even though it intends to protect their rights.

Spain’s other major trade union, Coco, welcomed the proposed measure and called it a major “legislative advance” that will recognise a health problem that has been “ignored” until now.