What critics of 'period leave' ignore: Fallout of inherently gendered world impacts every aspect of women’s lives – Firstpost

In a move aimed at busting the stigma and shame around menstruation, Indian food delivery giant Zomato announced a new ‘ period leave ’ policy on 8 August, swiftly reviving the long-running discourse around the polarising subject. Another interesting response that has more takers than it should, is the idea that women will somehow find a way to ‘misuse’ the ‘period leave’ policy. Additionally, over the past few days, a rather unsettling trend of disparaging ‘privileged’ working women for hailing and demanding menstrual leaves for the private sector has gained considerable ground on social media. This sulphurous rhetoric, which most women experience in the real and virtual world for asking for something outside of what’s been handed to them, has been decoded by Solnit in her book: “Women get to choose between being punished for being subjugated and the continual punishment of subjugation.” Similarly, in viewing paid leaves for menstruation as a ‘luxury’, critics of the policy have decided that urban women, who haven’t faced distinguishable oppression, are undeserving of it. Morris and and O’Donnell’s observation leaves us with troubling questions about what the road looks like for menstrual reforms: Will not having a period leave policy in place somehow remove the prejudices entrenched in the networks women function in, or make it easier for women to circumvent them?