Why are menstrual leaves not enough?

According to the World Bank, women made up 39.5% of the global paid workforce last year. One of the major concerns that ebbs and flows from working women is the implementation of period-friendly policies at the workplace. But too often this conversation stops at menstrual leaves. This article takes a closer look at why menstrual leaves are just one part of the puzzle, and how many businesses are short-changing not only their workers but also themselves by not embodying a holistic healthcare framework.

Accounting for difference

Women workers have diverse needs depending on their personal contexts and geographical locations. It isn’t just in workers’ favor for workplaces to recognize, adapt, and implement policies that meet these needs.?

• A 2017 study of menstrual leaves in the Netherlands which found that less than 12% of women took the leave also showed a mean of 8.4 days per year of lost productivity for those who worked through their cycles.?
• This mean was considerably lower for women who were absent due to menstruation-related symptoms at a mean of only 0.9 days per year.?

Ensuring policies are implemented without any perceived or real consequences is critical to worker wellbeing and productivity.

Where do menstrual leaves fall short??

Very few women in the study who were absent during their cycles felt they could be honest about the reason for their leaves, instead choosing to just ‘call in sick’. Effectively, women are using up days from their sick leave to compensate during their periods.

• In 2003, the Clean Clothes Campaign showed that women in Indonesia’s labor-intensive factories “feel they attract hostility of supervisors if they take leave”.?
• Nike’s subcontractors were even accused of forcing women to ‘prove’ they are on their periods by showing blood to clinic staff.?

These challenges are part of the larger cultural pressure on women to silently endure intimate health issues. They also stem from mistrust or misinformation about their experiences of pain.

Towards an evidence based approach?

The mere provision of menstrual leaves, then, is not enough. We need better ways to address the situation. Good Business Lab ’s rigorous research has led it to develop an array of programs that approach period-friendly policies from a holistic perspective.?

• Data from one baseline survey of women workers in Indian factories showed that 60% used cotton cloths instead of pads during their periods.?
• 210 million people in India are unable to afford commercial sanitary napkins.??

Even when women workers do have access, many use cloth due to mobility restrictions, disposal infrastructure gaps, and cultural taboos. This, along with a host of other period related hygiene practices contribute to countless health issues for those who menstruate. Conducting intensive and sensitive knowledge sessions on sexual and reproductive health could then be key for workers to feel like they are entering a safe environment when they come to work.

A worker-oriented approach?

In an interview with women workers on their relationships to supervisors, we found that women felt “more comfortable to talk about concerns freely” with women supervisors. It is imperative to conduct thoughtfully designed soft skills programs for supervisors regardless of their gender that addresses, among other things, communication problems that arise out of period-related conversations. Designed in collaboration with a consultancy firm, Good Business Lab’s STITCH program does this with high returns for the firms implementing it and seemingly improved levels of worker wellbeing. STITCH trained supervisors saw a 6% - 7.5% jump in productivity. Women in management positions are still a rarity in the labor-intensive context. Another potential avenue for firms to explore when creating equity and care in conversations about intimate health issues is to hire or promote more women in managerial positions.

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A holistic path for businesses

Businesses must develop a diverse set of responses and programs to address period-related concerns. Understanding the context their workers embody, and the array of problems they experience, is an important step in sincerely paving the way for improvements in worker wellbeing and an upward climb for the firm itself. Only then can a company practically lay out frameworks that tackle not only the health issues workers experiencing periods deal with, but also their social and economic backgrounds. There is still a substantial lack of academic evidence for the return on investment for programs that improve worker wellbeing, particularly in low-income conditions. We want to change this. Workplaces should understand that valuing wellbeing for precarious workers benefits not only the workers but also their own robust growth. After all, as our motto says, worker wellbeing is indeed good business, and good business can only happen when wellbeing is prioritized.

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Good Business Lab is a labor innovation and research organization. We use rigorous research methods to find a common ground between worker wellbeing and business interests. Check out our complete array of projects that help businesses prioritize worker wellbeing and health while also ensuring returns for businesses. ??