Spain has passed into law a menstrual leave policy allowing women with especially painful periods to take paid leave, part of a broader package on sexual and reproductive rights that includes permitting anyone 16 and older to have an abortion or legally change their gender.
The law gives the right to a three-day “menstrual” leave of absence, with the possibility of extending it to five days, for those with disabling periods, which can cause severe cramps, nausea, dizziness and sometimes vomiting.
A doctor’s note will be required and the public social security system will foot the bill.
Worldwide, menstrual leave is offered in only a handful of countries, among them Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and Zambia.
The law states that the new policy will help combat the stereotypes and myths that surround periods and hinder women’s lives, reports IOL, with the new legislation also seeing Spain distributing free feminine hygiene products in public facilities like educational institutions and prisons.
When it was first unveiled last year, the draft Bill also aimed to scrap or slash VAT on specific feminine hygiene products. That provision was ultimately left out but is expected to be revived in the government’s next general budget review.
The Spanish Gynaecology and Obstetrics Society says around a third of women who menstruate suffer from severe pain, known as dysmenorrhea, with symptoms like acute abdominal pain, diarrhoea, headaches and fever.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Bill granting paid menstrual-leave for severe period pain before Spanish cabinet
US analysis shows how diet can affect period pain severity
UK GPs accused of ignoring gynaecological complaints