In the coming days, Spain may join the group of countries that offer paid leave to women during their period, as is already the case in Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and Zambia. In the Spanish case, if passed, the law will allow three days off for those who have a painful period.
In addition to cramping, there are a number of symptoms that can make menstruation uncomfortable for some people. According to gynecologist and obstetrician Larissa Cassiano, the most common are abdominal pain, intense colic, headache, nausea, irritation, change in sleep and breast pain.
There are also those who suffer from chronic diseases that can make the pain even more intense during the menstrual period.
This is the case of the executive secretary Shirley Martins, 28, who has endometriosis. The condition develops when the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus is outside the uterine cavity, usually in other organs in the pelvis such as the tubes, ovaries, intestines and bladder. According to her, the intense colic, the headache and the nausea that she feels during the period generate indisposition.
“I always need to change my routine to be in line with the cycle. I can’t do much,” he says.
“I’ve stopped going out, traveling and working because I was in pain or because it was the third or fourth day of the cycle when the flow is very intense. There are times when I get cramping until my period goes away”, says Shirley.
Like her, history teacher Luzia de Souza, 56, also spent years altering her routine due to menstrual pain.
She was 13 when she first felt the discomfort. “I woke up feeling sick, spent the night feeling sick, headache and something like pain, like gas. My mom made me go to school anyway and it was a horrible day.”
“There were years of losses. I stopped going out with friends, going to parties, traveling, I missed work numerous times and also during elementary, high school and college”, says Luzia, who only stopped feeling pain at age 36 in function of a treatment for endometriosis.
In addition to dealing with physical and psychological symptoms, there is still machismo and ignorance on the part of company leaders who ignore the intensity of the symptoms.
“A male chief once told me that it was divine punishment for us women that I would have to put up with because he had a wife and mother and sisters and he never saw them complain about it,” Shirley reports.
The situation can still get worse when it comes to transgender and non-binary people. In addition to suffering from menstrual pain, this population is affected by transphobia that causes the situation of their bodies to be ignored by bosses and also by health professionals. When they take hormone treatment, their menstrual cycle is altered until it sometimes stops — but this therapy is not always accessible to everyone.
According to a survey carried out in 2018 by the sanitary pad brand Semper Livre in partnership with the Kyra and Mosaiclab Institutes, with women who menstruate regularly and who are between 14 and 45 years old, 51% of Brazilian women feel intense discomfort during menstruation.
The impact of this is that 1 in 10 misses going to school or work and only 26% feel productive during their period.
“Working with pain significantly reduces productivity and focus, in addition, at this time, many people become more sleepy or with changes in food, facts that directly interfere with work”, points out gynecologist Larissa Cassiano.
Pachamama, a company that manufactures natural products and cosmetics in Minas Gerais, offers the “Folga da Lua”, which consists of a day of paid leave during the menstrual period, with the aim of ensuring the quality of life of its partners and staff.
“When you give the body the rest when it needs it, in the period after menstruation, that person will be much more focused, much more energized, much more potent than if they had bypassed their needs,” she says. Carol Neves, CEO of Pachamama.
The decision to establish this moment came along with the birth of the company. “From day one, we agreed that we would have menstrual time off and when we had employees we would offer it to them too. We understand that we, people who menstruate, are cyclical beings”.
Over the 12 years since the company’s creation, Carol has been asked many times by businesspeople about the issue of productivity. “What I realize is that productivity is very high when we allow that person to stay at home and rest at that moment”.
Both experts and people who menstruate agree on the importance of a monthly break.
For Cassiano, “allowing a leave in this period can bring an overall improvement in productivity”. The CEO of Pachamama, on the other hand, points out differences in the quality of work when an employee decides not to take the day off due to high demand. “We notice a drop in productivity, you know? Precisely for that reason, she didn’t experience this end of the cycle”.
Luzia, in turn, imagines that, with this break, her quality of life would have been better during her menstrual life. “Doctors didn’t always understand that [eu] wasn’t well, they usually denied a certificate.”
In her experience, Shirley highlights that when she has to go to work on those days, she doesn’t surrender or needs to leave early to take medication. “Being at home, the concern with work and studies would be less. I would be unconcerned with the routine, knowing that I am supported, that I can lie down, take a medication for colic and wait for the pain to go away”.
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