Menstrual leave soon generalized? This is what the Socialist Party proposes

Will menstruating people soon be eligible for leave when they have painful and disabling periods?

This is what the PS group wishes for the National Assembly. On Wednesday, May 10, the latter presented a bill presented by the deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis Fatiha Keloua Hachi and her colleague from Ille-et-Vilaine Mickaël Bouloux to legislate on the issue of menstruation at work.

Up to 13 days off per year

Like Spain, which adopted a similar measure last February, France could therefore adopt menstrual leave which, according to the authors of the bill, would help “eliminate the taboo on menstrual cycles and their physical and mental consequences”.

“We interviewed about fifteen interlocutors, coming from feminist organizations, health unions or the business world. But the work is not finished, it is just a beginning and we hope that other political forces, besides the left, will be able to seize it ”, she declared to Huffington Post deputy Mickaël Bouloux.

Composed of 8 articles, the bill provides for authorization to anyone who suffers from it “disabling menstruation” benefit, subject to a certificate issued by a doctor or midwife, from a “sick leave of up to thirteen days valid for one year, for a period not exceeding two days per month”.

People taking menstrual leave will not be penalized with a loss of wages, as they will be compensated from the first day of absence, with no waiting period.

5 days off in case of miscarriage

Another measure envisaged by the bill: the obligation for companies to guarantee through their own internal regulations that “material measures that can guarantee better comfort for menstruating people” are put in place. This includes, for example, the provision of periodic protection and a water point.

Furthermore, the deputies have also provided for the establishment of a leave of five working days for people affected by spontaneous termination of pregnancy, as well as for the spouse or partner. Initially, the bill provided for a similar leave in the event of voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG), but the deputies preferred to withdraw it to “don’t obfuscate the message”.

“The challenge is to initiate parliamentary reflection on this issue and to remember, on a symbolic level, that the left has always been ahead of causes related to feminism”underlines to the Huffington Post Fatiha Keloua Hachi.

The bill could be debated at the beginning of the school year in the parliamentary niche of the socialist group in the Assembly.