K Srinivasan
What is common between Spain,Japan,Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and Zambia? All these countries offer women paid menstrual leave, with the Land of the Samurai being the first to do so, in 1947, and Spain the latest, in February this year.
With the Indian workforce seeing an increasing number of women, it is only a matter of time before there is a law offering them this leave option.
The Supreme Court on February 24 declined to entertain a PIL that wanted the court to rule on menstrual leavefor women. The court, in its wisdom, said these are policy matters and it is for the executive to consider and deliberate upon them.
Three years earlier, the Delhi High Court, too, had urged the Centre and the Delhi Government to examine the possibility of such a leave, while declining to entertain a similar plea.
Increasingly, ‘period leave’, as it is called, is being considered important for the wellbeing of women and slowly but surely institutions and countries are looking at providing women with the opportunity to rest and recuperate during their menstrual cycle.
Interestingly, the first blow in favour of women came from Bihar a good three decades plus back when the state Government chose to give women in the Government two days of menstrual leave a month. In January this year, Kerala issued orders for students to avail of this leave in all Government higher education institutions.
It is only a matter of time before the Modi Government crafts a law providing the women with this necessary relief. The Government has been extremely sensitive to women across the board and the law should m
