Should companies offer paid period leave? It’s a topic picking up speed around the world, but it’s not nearly as advanced as it sounds. It’s actually quite an archaic, one-note policy, and I hope companies in the U.S. reject it.
The topic originally started picking up steam in 2017, when nonprofit organizations in Australia started offering it following India, Japan, and Italy, as late as 2016. The debate has picked up again in Australia, prodding discussions here in the U.S. Period pain, of course, is an issue for menstruating women around the world.
For many women, pain associated with their monthly cycle is apparently so bad they ask for time off. Western Sydney University researchers found 90 percent of women had experienced period pain in recent weeks, and the pain was so bad that 40 percent of women had taken days off work.
Studio 10, a morning talk show based in Australia cited the study this fall. In the clip, of the four newscasters, two were women. They weren’t a big fan of other women citing their periods as a reason to miss work. One recognized the caveat of endometriosis, which I have and which is excruciating. (Still, I can’t recall a day where I did not work or parent or function as a result. Tylenol is a beautiful thing.)
“I don’t like the idea,” one woman said. “It’s not a helpful move forward.” The other female co-host asked where a period leave policy might end. “What about women who are menopausal and don’t have their periods anymore. Can they then take menopausal leave?”
Indeed, where does period pain begin and end, and why should it be given leave separate from a sick day? What about men who get excruciating migraines or feel like they are dead stuck in a midlife crisis? Should we have male nonsick-but-still-in-pain leave?
The larger problem with paid period leave, and frankly I’m surprised feminists around the world favor it despite this, is it’s really just another label for women. Oh, those poor women who get their periods. Give them some time off because they have cramps.
I thought we were supposed to be treated equally because we were as tough as men in the workforce? I guess we are, except when it comes to that week we have the very thing men never have. (Granted, I’ve always thought if men had periods they would not be able to handle the pain, discomfort, and annoyance of it all, but that’s another topic — they handle other things I couldn’t, such as war and car repairs.)
In a 2017 piece about the topic in the New York Times, experts, surprisingly, eschewed the idea for guess what reason? Feminism. “[Paid period leave] suggests women are uniquely handicapped in the workplace by the fact that they have periods,” said Emily Martin, vice president for workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center.
Martin is correct, and this follows logically with the feminist ideology that truly believes they are equal and capable of the same tasks in the workforce. It’s fascinating that other countries are embracing paid period leave in the name of feminism while many in the U.S. are holding out for the other side of that same coin.
As a conservative woman, I hope the U.S. continues to reject even the concept because it’s just silly and coddling. If you have endometriosis or another illness that makes periods excruciating, by all means, seek medical help. It’s there.
However, for the rest of women who simply have regular, painful, annoying periods, you need to woman-up a little: If you’re woman enough to get a job, bear babies, wax your eyebrows, and the like, you can handle functioning during your period, and you don’t need paid period leave.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
