The retail giant Carrefour announced on Wednesday measures for “the health of women at work”. In particular, they provide for “12 days of authorized medical leave per year for women who suffer from endometriosis and have a document certifying the disability situation recognized by the company”.
This document can be, for example, the recognition of the status of disabled worker, issued by a departmental commission specialized in disability. Endometriosis is a chronic disease that affects nearly 10% of women and girls of childbearing age, according to the World Health Organization, a UN agency. It is often associated with sharp pain during menstruation.
Carrefour’s announcement comes as menstrual leave became law in Europe, via Spain, in February. Locally, in France, some entities have already adopted it, in different forms. Since March 2022, the office furniture company Louis Design, for example, offers “one extra paid day off” per month for people with painful periods. The latter do not need to go to the doctor to justify these absences because “everything depends on trust,” the company explains on its site. The Socialist Party and the city of Saint-Ouen made similar announcements in the following months.
A bill introduced in the Senate
Initiatives that inspired Senator PS Hélène Conway-Mouret. The latter presented a bill on Tuesday “with the aim of improving and guaranteeing the health and well-being of women at work.” With this text, the senator for French residents abroad wants to introduce a work stoppage of a maximum of two days a month, valid for a period of three months, for people suffering from endometriosis or dysmenorrhea (painful periods). The compensation granted to the interested party is paid “without delay”, specifies the bill.
The main objective is “freedom of expression” on a subject “that was previously intimate, hidden,” Hélène Conway-Mouret explains to BFMTV.com. She also wants to establish a real medical follow-up for people affected by these problems. That is why the work stoppages are only valid for three months, but the senator does not consider this connection: “it is enough to call your doctor to renew it.”
“The women are on their own for the moment, managing their suffering on their own,” she laments.
His bill also wants to allow people suffering from dysmenorrhea to telework when their job allows and create five-day paid leave for women who have had a miscarriage.
Endometriosis “impacts professional life”
For Yasmine Candau, president of the EndoFrance association, “anything that goes in the direction of helping menstruating people with endometriosis is excellent.” She considers it important to “disentangle the ideas received about endometriosis: it is much more than menstrual pain, it is important to realize that endometriosis does not stay at the company door, it impacts professional life” with difficulty concentrating and absences.
The association for the fight against endometriosis is not sure, however, that stopping this disease is the priority. “There are so many forms of endometriosis that it would take customization. All companies should be aware of endometriosis and act accordingly, not necessarily with a license but with baths, hot water bottles…”, Yasmine Candau tells BFMTV. com.
The menstrual leave is not unanimous
On the broader issue of menstrual loss, Yasmine Candau fears a counterproductive measure at the level of endometriosis: “we must not tell ourselves that the pain is normal, that we are going on leave and that it will be better the following month” and thus not seek to be diagnosed with a disease that is already very poorly identified.
For Isabelle Gueguen, co-director of Perfégal, a consultancy specializing in gender equality, the priority would be to work on the working conditions of people with painful periods. She also judges that some companies make these announcements for communication purposes, pointing out for example that in the case of Carrefour, disability due to endometriosis must be recognized, which implies more procedures than sick leave.
“Menstrual leave can also stigmatize all women, always taking them back to their bodies,” says the gender equality specialist at work.
An opinion shared by the Dare to feminism association, which sees in the menstrual leave “a false good idea”. Its spokesperson, Violaine De Philippis-Abate, judges that the menstrual leave aimed at women “exposes discrimination in hiring”. “An employer will think that they will be absent more than men,” she told BFMTV.com.
Sick leave without waiting period for men and women?
“When maternity leave was introduced, the same arguments were given and in the end they are still hired,” he adds. Dares made a similar observation in a study published in May 2021 following a evidence of great magnitude. “Introducing information about family situation (presence of children, marital status) or indicating a period of inactivity in the resumes does not generate a significant difference in the treatment between the applications of women and men,” the service observed at the time. Statistics of the Work Department .
The Ombudsman’s Office, an institution in charge of defending people whose rights are not respected, however, judged in March 2022 that the employment discrimination of which women are victims due to their pregnancy is “still too frequent”.
“We still make too many decisions where women are not hired because of their pregnancy status,” said Claire Hédon, director of this institution, in a press release.
To avoid this situation with menstrual leaves, Dare Feminism offers an alternative solution: a fixed number of assigned sick leaves with no equivalent waiting period for men and women. “It is unfeasible,” replies Senator Hélène Conway-Mouret. “What they are proposing is to add three weeks of vacation to the year.”
A “step” in taking into account the rules
“It must be said that this is a step that allows you to take an important phenomenon into account,” the senator considers about her bill. The main goal is to “destigmatize something that is completely natural.”
A fight shared by Isabelle Gueguen, who finds “interesting that the rules stop being a taboo subject”. “Beyond the day off, what is important is the company’s vision of endometriosis,” Yasmine Candau also says.
“If we know that there is benevolence on this issue in the company and that we will not be judged if we take a break, it generates less stress and therefore less pain. It is win-win ”, she underlines.
Source: BFM TV
