Any woman can speak from personal opinion that having your period can be a literal pain. And I’m not talking the unique terror of getting toxic shock syndrome from forgetting to take out a tampon. Instead, many women experience debilitating cramps along with their time of the month. Luckily, there’s one company that’s introducing “period leave,” or a flexible work schedule when that happens.
According to the Telegraph, a company in the U.K. called Coexist, will allow women to take time off during their menstrual cycles. Coexist is made up mostly of women, and one of its leaders, Bex Baxter, says she sees a lot of women suffering around that time. “I have found them doubled over in a lot of pain,” she said.
Baxter says the new policy is not about getting more days off, but being able to work efficiently around their cycle. She also wants the “period leave” policy to “break the last great taboo.”
It’s 2016, but there’s still a big stigma around women talking about their periods. Mashable reports on a survey of 90,000 women around the world about menstruation attitudes. The survey found that 17 percent of women had missed work, school, or another event because they didn’t want people to know that they were on their periods. The survey also found more than 5,000 euphemisms for menstruation.
Good thing that people are fighting back against the stigma, like the woman who ran a marathon without a tampon. Then there’s Coexist following Nike’s example, which introduced “menstrual leave” back in 2007. Hopefully more workplaces will follow suit.
