- By Samriddhi Verma
The period leave. On August 8th, Zomato announced that they will be giving 10 days of “period leave” a year and this will be applicable to transgenders and women. Why 10? On the basis of the probability of periods falling on a weekend and since a woman on average has 14 cycles a year, Zomato granted 10 days. Many women let out a long sigh of relief, even if they don’t work in Zomato. Change is change. However, Zomato quickly faced backlash, from a lot of men and women who don’t quite understand what equality means. Equality, as once metaphorically described can be better understood by these lines :-
“"Equality is like giving every runner the same-size shoes. Some pairs fit well and others don't. That means some runners will probably do better in the race than others. Equality is like providing shoes that fit each runner equally well."
First, it’s best to understand why periods are such a big deal. In short, it’s when a woman bleeds for 7 days on an average as her uterine lining sheds every 28 days and, usually has symptoms like stomach cramping, lethargy, disorientation, back and chest pain, fever, puking, disturbed sleep patterns, bloating, breakouts, upset stomach and migraines. A woman’s menstrual cycle is the foundation of pregnancy, so the body takes it very seriously. A woman’s endocrine system and reproductive system go through extremes each month. Of course, there are serious medical issues associated with the menstrual cycle like Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Endometriosis, Athletic Amenorrhea that leaves women immobilised with pain.
But the menstrual cycle isn’t easy to label as “bearably painful” or “medically painful” as everyone, regardless of gender have different thresholds of pain. The menstruation cycle is easily influenced by age, sleep, pH of foods consumed before the period/during PMS, exercise, weight, genetics, birth control contraception, hypothyroidism.
Getting a medical leave takes time, costs money (Average money spent for consultation is 600 rupees) and may even be obsolete by the time a woman receives it In some cases the cause of irregular and painful periods are obvious but certainly not in all cases. It's costly and at times even painful to find out the direct cause of it. However, if you leave it up to the woman to decide which days are simply unbearable, it is her choice to decide which days she chooses to come in. Not all of the given factors can be treated or cared for easily, so to blame it on the woman is unjust.
This is good, this promotes productivity, removes the stigma and promotes a healthy work environment. This is simply biology, it is a fact that the menstrual cycle takes a toll on the body. There is no harm in talking about periods, there should be no shame in being a woman, there should be no shame in talking to your male co-workers/ managers about it. That’s exactly what Zomato did. It is the first to allow such leaves, the first to promote this change.
It’s not like Zomato is allowing women to slack off as clearly stated by Founder and CEO, Deepinder Goyal in a few points stated by him like “These leaves should only be availed if you are really unable to attend to work” and “Do not abuse these leaves or use them as a crutch to take time out for other pending tasks”
Zomato faced backlash by men who didn’t understand why women need these holidays, stating that now the workload would be shifted on to them. That doesn’t make sense, since the woman was still allotted the work. It is up to her discretion on when and how to get the work done, but the deadline is blind to gender. Some people missed the point entirely, scoffing that women won’t bring this up with their manager as if that wasn’t the whole point of the change; the fact that women should talk about it and not be treated differently. Some people felt this would impact hiring but fail to understand that this isn’t government imposed and is just one company and the fact of the matter is that women have always showed up to work, college or school no matter how much pain they’re in, no matter how high their fever is and no matter how queasy they feel. This is Zomato recognising that that isn’t normal or fair, no man shows up to work bleeding while cramping and sniffling. Why should a woman? Is this equality?
There were women who said that they don’t feel the need to take period leaves and the concept was anti-feminist as it apparently solidifies the stereotype that women are the weaker sex. There were women who said that this will not encourage women to join the military or work in intensive fields because they will expect this “special treatment” everyone from no on. Bharka Dutt’s tweet probably irked me most.
Source- Twitter
It is one thing to see men, who don’t experience menstruation to dismiss period leave, but it’s another thing to see another woman dismiss it just because the concept feels unfamiliar to them. Women have always tried to make their way through male-dominated fields like aviation, astrophysics and the military and their periods have been the least of their issues. The dismissal, the underestimation, the stigma especially in a patriarchal society such as ours, the higher cutoffs (yes, you read that right) and the lower wage. The period is not what deters woman from their dreams, it is the journey of struggle. The period leave does nothing but make life simpler. Women who truly want to achieve their dream of becoming a pilot, an astronaut or a scientist make their dreams a reality regardless of their cycle. Why should women be deprived of such opportunities because of biology? Women are not any less smart or hardworking, the fact that women show up to work every day even while menstruating goes to show that women are anything but less.
We as the youth of India want progress and we want to go abroad because of “how progressive and free” it is but when something new that sparks change, doesn’t fit our individual narratives and is something that hasn’t been experienced, it is seen as blasphemy and “just another hoo-haa from feminazis.” This is nothing wrong with menstruation and it's time we accept that our differences don't make us weaker or better than the other. Everyone's bodies are different.
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