There is now a proposal from Gabriela Partylist for employers to grant what they call “menstrual leave” for women.
House Bill No.7758 or the proposed Menstrual Leave Act, filed by Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas, proposes that all women employees both in the private and public sectors be granted a maximum of two days of fully-paid leave every month.
The move didn’t sit well with local business leaders who said some employers may not be able to shoulder this expense.
“Another 24 paid leave days in a year may not be affordable to many employers, especially with too many uncertainties in the global economic landscape. There should also be checks and balances to prevent abuse as not all women have the same level of reproductive challenges,” said Mandaue City Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Kelie Ko.
We are of the same mind, it is something our smaller businesses cannot afford. While another partylist can quickly points out that Spain already passed a law granting women workers paid menstrual leave for three days a month with the option to extend it to five days, we should point out that we aren’t a match with Spain which is the world's sixteenth in terms of nominal GDP and the sixth-largest economy in Europe.
In short the businesses there, including the smaller, ones can carry this additional burden or turn to their government if they are not able to do so. However, our businesses here, especially the smaller ones, may not be able to do the same.
Also, companies are already mandated by the law to provide their employees sick leave days. While we won’t venture to say they are enough for each type of employee and the kind of work they do, these sick days may be used whenever menstrual pain becomes too much for an employee.
More often than not, unlike regular leave days, sick days are usually not completely used up by the end of the year.
While would also like to point out that many women don’t see the need to abandon work during their menstrual cycle, we realize this would be insensitive. After all, not all women suffer from this literal force of nature the same way. The two reasons mentioned above are enough for us to say that making menstrual leave a thing isn’t really necessary at this time.