Painful rules: 66% of female employees are in favor of menstrual leave in companies

Should companies introduce menstrual leave? In Europe, Spain is at the forefront: the government wants to establish temporary sick leave financed entirely by the state for women who suffer from painful menstruation. On the French side, if some initiatives have been taken in isolation by companies, their generalization is not on the agenda. However, the majority of French women would be in favour: according to a study carried out by Ifop* for Eve and Co and reported by Le Parisien, 66% of French female employees would approve of the introduction of menstrual leave in the workplace.

Additionally, 64% of employees surveyed said they could use it if implemented at their company. Two thirds of employees (66%) even consider a company that offers it more attractive, a figure that rises to 76% between 15-24 years. More than half of employees surveyed (53%) say they experience painful periods.

concerns

However, the introduction of menstrual leave raises concerns. “Among the women who say they would not use menstrual leave, 53% explain that they fear they will not be believed or considered lazy,” Ifop emphasizes, and four out of ten (39%) would abandon it. for fear of how others would look. In addition, 71% of female employees consider that menstrual leave would be a brake on hiring women and 70% that it would be an obstacle to assuming responsibilities in the company. Additionally, 66% of female employees say they fear being teased.

An important issue: 65% of French employees say they have encountered at least one rule-related difficulty in the professional context, such as concentration problems (48%), difficulty standing up (44%) or accessing the bathroom to change their hygienic protection (38%). Two out of ten female employees (21%) have also been the target of derogatory comments or teasing.

*Survey carried out by the IFOP for Eve and Co from September 12 to 15, 2022 through a self-administered online questionnaire with a sample of 993 female workers, representative of the population of French employees aged 15 and over, according to the quota method.