Have You Heard Of Paid Menstrual Leave and Should It Come To New Jersey?

I personally didn’t know until today that paid menstrual leave is a thing that is offered to female employees because I have never heard of it before. I was reading up on the topic and found a few articles that sort of summed up the process.

There really is a divide in opinions over this right now, but my question is, should it be implemented in New Jersey? Some people think that it’s sort of ridiculous and that women should just take a sick day if they don’t feel good because of their period.

Other people are on the opposite end of the spectrum and believe that this should have been a plan that was implemented in the workplace years ago. Personally, I think that women could extremely benefit from having this offered to them.

Some women have extremely painful cycles and even suffer from other illnesses such as endometriosis and dysmenorrhea (painful menstrual cycles). If you are lucky enough to not have to experience things like these, you may not believe in menstrual leave at all, which is also understandable.

There was a debate that tied into this topic that was proposing the question of if this type of leave is fair to male employees. Some were saying that this would equal more excused time off for women than men, which can be extremely unfair.

This is a valid argument, but in my opinion, because the male and female anatomy is so different, we really can’t compare the two. Although it’s not technically “fair” to men that women would have a few more days excused, women can’t help this part of their lives or how the pain will take a toll on their bodies that month.

The fact that it’s so out of women’s control is the reason I’d say I’m for this being implemented in the workplace. Right now, the countries that do offer paid menstrual leave are Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Zambia.

These four countries vary in how many paid days off women receive ranging from one day per month to three days per month. All I’m saying is, this is for sure a part of life that women can’t help so having the ability to take time off when you desperately need it would most likely help most women who suffer from extremely painful cycles or even more complicated reasons such as diseases that affect their “time of the month”.

The debate continues online about if this should be implemented in states across the U.S.