Spain to introduce three days of menstrual leave from work a month

Virgin Radio

13 May 2022, 11:00

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Add this to the very long list of reasons why we want to move to sunny Spain. 

The country is about to introduce three days of ‘menstrual leave’, allowing those with periods some time off work if they suffer from severe pain. 

Spain will be the first Western country to allow the leave, following on from places like Japan, South Korea and Indonesia. 

The Spanish government is set to approve the new measures next week (Tuesday 17th), after the Secretary of State for Equality, Ángela Rodríguez, announced the plans in March.

It’s part of a wider plan around menstrual and reproductive health and access to period products for everyone.

The reform will likely include extended paid maternity leave before childbirth and changes to abortion laws. 

Rodríguez told Spanish publication El Periodico: “The rights related to menstrual health have never been discussed and the data is chilling.

“It is important to clarify what a painful period is, we are not talking about a slight discomfort, but about serious symptoms such as diarrhoea, severe headaches, fever.

“Symptoms that when there is a disease that entails them, a temporary disability is granted, therefore the same should happen with menstruation and that there is the possibility that if a woman has a very painful period, she can stay home.”

Sanitary products, such as pads and tampons, will also be made tax-free, and women in ‘marginalised social circumstances’ will get free period products.

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