Spain to approve menstrual leave for women
Women who suffer from severe menstrual pain will be allowed to take a leave from work for up to three days each month, under a reform plan set to be approved by Spain’s government next week.
According to the Spanish Gynaecology and Obstetrics Society, around a third of women who menstruate suffer from severe pain known as dysmenorrhea, with that proportion rising if also accounting for pre-menstrual pain.
“If someone has an illness with such symptoms a temporary disability is granted, so the same should happen with menstruation – allowing a woman with a very painful period to stay at home,” Angela Rodriguez, the secretary of state for equality, told El Periodico newspaper.
The draft reform includes other reforms such as the requirement for schools to provide sanitary pads for girls who need them, making pads and tampons free for women in marginalized social circumstances, and removing VAT from their sale price—a long-standing demand from women in Spain.
Furthermore, Spain’s Left-wing government is planning to make abortion more widely available by removing the requirement for parental permission for 16 and 17-year-olds and guaranteeing abortion access in public hospitals.
Although the issue remains divisive in majority Catholic Spain, the country’s parliament recently made it a criminal offense to harass or intimidate women with the object of impeding their right to abortion in response to frequent protests outside abortion clinics.
