Congress MP from Kerala Hibi Eden will be moving a private member’s Bill seeking to provide the right to paid leave during the period of menstruation for working women, menstrual leave for female students, and free access to menstrual health products, in the ongoing Budget session of the Parliament.
Also read: Kerala Higher Education department introduces maternity and menstrual leaves in universities
The Bill titled ‘The Right of Women to Menstrual Leave and Free Access to Menstrual Health Products Bill, 2022’ provides for three days of paid leave for women and transwomen during the period of menstruation. It also seeks to extend the benefit for students, who the Bill says should not be marked absent for those three days per month. Mr. Eden pointed that countries like Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, Indonesia and Mexico have institutionalised leave under this category.
Podcast | Women Uninterrupted
“Menstruation and its debilitating nature, though a reality, are often hushed. According to research, approximately 40 per cent of girls miss school during their periods. Nearly 65 per cent said it had an impact on their daily activities at school and that they had to skip class tests and lessons as a consequence of discomfort, anxiety, shame, and concerns about leakage and uniform discolouration,” the Bill states.
The Bill also envisages a ‘Female Menstrual Health Products Price Regulating Authority’ that will be responsible for availability and distribution of menstrual health products free of cost to every women, regulate the prices of menstrual health products, create awareness, responsiveness and consciousness regarding the importance of menstrual health products, identify and give priority in access to menstrual health products to the target group, including women not enrolled in full-time education, or living in poverty.
