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The Spanish government today approved a bill which grants paid ‘menstrual leave’ for women who suffer from severe period pain, in what would be a first in Europe.
The bill allows workers experiencing period pain to an unlimited amount of time off, with the state social security system – not employers – picking up the tab for the medical leave.
As with paid leave for other health reasons, a doctor must approve the temporary medical incapacity.
The proposed legislation must still be approved by parliament, with a vote not expected for months. But if the bill is passed, Spain will become the first Western country to give women ‘menstrual leave’.
Menstrual leave is currently offered only in a small number of countries across the globe, among them South Korea, Japan, Zambia and Indonesia – and none in Europe.
Under the reform package passed by Spain’s cabinet, schools will be required to provide sanitary products to girls and there will also be changes to the country’s abortion laws.
Equality Minister Irene Montero said the law will recognise a health problem that has been largely swept under the carpet until now
It will end the requirement for girls aged 16 and 17 to obtain parental consent before terminating a pregnancy and include measure to boost access to abortion at private hospitals.
It also includes paid leave for pregnant women from week 39 and guarantees the distribution of free menstrual products in public institutions such as schools and health centres.
The draft law also states that surrogate pregnancy, which is illegal in Spain, is a form of violence against women.
It was not clear whether Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority coalition government, which has made women’s rights a priority, has enough support in the assembly to pass the bill.
The draft bill has provoked a debate in Spain about whether the paid menstrual leave rule will help or hamper women in the workplace.
‘It will only create more conflict when deciding on whether to hire a woman or not,’ said 21-year-old student Pablo Beltran Martin.
But Equality Minister Irene Montero said the law will recognise a health problem that has been largely swept under the carpet until now.
‘Periods will no longer be taboo,’ she told a news conference after the cabinet approved the bill.
‘We will be the first country in Europe to introduce a temporary sick leave that is fully financed by the state for painful and incapacitating periods,’ she added.
‘No more going to work with pain, no more taking pills before arriving at work and having to hide the fact on days we’re pain that makes us unable to work.’
The Spanish government today approved a bill which grants paid ‘menstrual leave’ for women who suffer from severe period pain, in what would be a first in Europe (stock image)
She added: ‘Today we send an international message of support to all women who are fighting for their sexual and reproductive rights.
‘We must guarantee that it is the women who decide what happens to their own bodies.’
Montero belongs to the far-left Podemos party, Sanchez’s junior coalition partner which has been the driving force behind the law.
Actress and singer Cristina Diaz, 28, said: ‘If a woman has a period that prevents her from working I think it’s great that she can ask for a few days off like any person who has a health issue.’
The bill also addresses so-called conscientious objection, which allows doctors to refuse to carry out abortions – a subject of heated debate between rights groups and right-wing activists. State clinics must provide a willing specialist, it says.
Raquel del Rio, 36, who works in police forces, poses as she observes a period calendar tracker app on her mobile phone at her home in Madrid, Spain, on Monday
Marta Vigara Garcia, 37, said she was pleased the new abortion law would facilitate access.
When she decided to terminate her pregnancy in 2018 after doctors told her the baby had only a slim chance of surviving, she had difficulty getting doctors to perform an abortion.
‘They told me that because the baby still had a heartbeat, they wouldn’t do the abortion,’ she said. ‘I had to handle it myself and go to a private clinic.’
Spain decriminalised abortion in 1985 in cases of rape, if a foetus is malformed or if a birth poses a serious physical or psychological risk to the mother.
The scope of the law was broadened in 2010 to allow abortion on demand in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, or up to 22 weeks in cases of severe foetal abnormalites.
But access to the procedure is complicated by the fact that many doctors in public hospitals refuse to perform abortions.
The Spanish government’s move comes as thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied across the United States on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court may soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalised abortion nationwide half a century ago.
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