In India as well as sub-Saharan Africa, the taboo surrounding menstruation often causes girls to drop out of schools and education despite it being a completely natural biological function
Irene Montero, Spanish Minister of Equality, intervenes in the debate on the laws on the rights of trans people and voluntary interruption of pregnancy. Photo: https://www.congreso.es/ A historic decision in faraway Spain on February 16, 2023, should inspire judgement next week when the Supreme Court (SC) of India hears a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to all the State governments to frame rules for menstrual pain leaves, a veteran gender activist has told Down To Earth (DTE).
The Spanish parliament February 16, approved legislation that made Spain the first country in Europe to entitle workers to paid menstrual leave. The legislature also expanded abortion and transgender rights for teenagers in the traditionally Catholic country.
“It is praiseworthy and important that Spain is looking at different kinds of reproductive and sexual rights,” Jashodhara Dasgupta, a researcher and activist working on gender, rights and public health told DTE.
The period leave was a very good step in the direction of helping girls to not miss school.
“I hope it will also inspire judgement in the PIL. It is a very progressive step for young women and girls. They should not be discriminated against from taking leave. It is a great first step in providing girls with the support they need,” she added.
In India, as well as sub-Saharan Africa, menstruation often causes girls to drop out of schools and education despite being a completely natural biological function.
A 2015 report — Dignity for Her — by Dasra, a Mumbai-based philanthropy foundation and the Bank of America had noted:
Girls tend to miss school six days a month on an average due to the inability to manage their periods at school. This eventually contributes to almost 23 per cent girls dropping out of school on reaching puberty, which critically undermines their potential as individuals and future workers.
The PIL, filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi, seeks rules for menstrual pain leaves to female students and working-class women at their respective workplaces and compliance of section 14 of the Maternity Benefit Act 1961.
The Act makes it mandatory for employers to grant paid leave to their women employees for a certain number of days if they:
However, the PIL notes that the provisions of the Act are not implemented in their true spirit.
Sanitary pads and other products to manage periods will be offered free in Spanish schools and prisons after the February 16 change in legislation. State-run health centres will offer free hormonal contraceptives and the morning after pill.
Japan, Indonesia and Zambia are among a select few countries globally that offer period leave.
Madrid also approved legislation expanding abortion and transgender laws for teenagers, something that would have been considered unthinkable in a country that was a bastion of Catholicism in medieval Europe.
Sixteen and 17-year-old Spaniards can now undergo an abortion without parental consent. An abortion can be carried out in a state-run hospital.
Any Spaniard over 16 years can also change their legally registered gender without medical supervision under the new laws.
“Minors between 12-13 years old will need a judge’s authorisation to change, while those between 14 and 16 must be accompanied by their parents or legal guardians,” reported broadcast station abcnews.
“It is very important to give women the right to abortion,” Dasgupta said.
She added that the laws regarding transgender rights were also a very progressive step.
“In India, we have had a very strong struggle by the transgender community to remove a clause from the transgender law that required such persons to be certified by a panel of medical specialists. That clause has now been removed. India has been quite progressive on that front. However, I am not sure if the legal age in India is over 16 for changing one’s gender,” she noted.
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