Menstruation taboos were fresh on my mind. My last article was about speaking with Shafa Rameez’s battle on this matter. Today we’re talking period leaves.
On August 8, 2020, Zomato announced that they would provide up to 10 days of period leave for women and transgender employees.
As someone who bleeds, I can say that this is very welcome. The act, however, has sparked up a big debate on how equal genders can be with this. Do women/transgender people who bleed have to acknowledge that they are, in fact, taking a leave due to their period? Which potentially might be a huge privacy invasion!
Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal also acknowledged the possibility of harassment. He said, “In case women face any unnecessary harassment or distasteful comments from men or women about the fact that they applied for a period leave, they can report it to the company’s prevention of sexual harassment (POSH) team.”
I don’t know how to feel about this completely. I absolutely stand by the intention behind the proposal, but the execution is what matters. Do women have to face added-on other forms of subtle discrimination in their workplace, which they already do? This requires more thought and more discussions with employees, with management, with HR, and, most importantly, with them being women. This has been a win, though, ladies! These issues have to be acknowledged, accepted, and worked through. Just sticking our head in the sand is not going to work.
Resources to read more about it:
Read also:
Gender And Holiday Labour
Periods, Pain, And Why We Shouldn’t Downplay Our Discomfort
“Are You On Your Period?” The Implications Of This Statement Are Far From Comedic