Indian firm introduces first day of period leave for female staff

Women working in Bihar's government departments get a two-day leave per month for 'biological reasons'

A firm based in Mumbai, India has introduced the "First day of period leave" for its female staff.

Its 75 female employees appreciated the human resources (HR) department for the creation of the new policy. The company called Culture Machine circulated a petition addressed to the Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Women and Child Development in order to have the policy applied across India.

The organisation also released a video of its female staff discussing what and how they feel on the first day of their period along with their reactions to the newly made policy.


The president of the HR department at the firm, Devleena S Majumder, said, “First day is obviously a not-so-comfortable day for most. It’s time we face the reality. This is not an embarrassment. This is part of life.”



In the previous year, the Centre was mulling over a period leave policy across the country, however no such policy was implemented.

Meanwhile, the government of Bihar does have such a policy in place for its female employees. The women working in government departments get a two-day leave per month for 'biological reasons.'

Organisations in countries including Japan, China, Taiwan and Indonesia also have a policy similar to that introduced by the Mumbai-based organisation and the Bihar government.

 

This article originally appeared on India.com.