The Debate on Paid Menstrual Leave at The Workplace: Issues and Challenges in the 21st Century

A woman as a creation of nature is biologically different from a man and menstruation is one of them.Though it is a biological issue, normal menstruation is a sign of good reproductive health for a woman, but society tagged it as taboo and impure.In this 21 st century, India failed to address the problem where women are acutely participating in the workforce and contributing to the national economy.Menstruation is a natural biological phenomenon, but it affects a woman psychologically and physically and at workplaces, it hampers productivity as well as violates the fundamental right to health and right to sanitation enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.The debate of the right of women to paid menstrual leave is not new to the nation, for the first time in India in 1992 the State of Bihar implemented a policy of two days of paid menstrual leave at the workplace and later the State of Kerala also implemented this policy for students.Nowadays, several institutions from the private sector have implemented this initiative of menstrual leave.At the national level, three Private Bills regarding the menstrual benefit of women were introduced in Indian Parliament in 2017, 2018 and 2022 but failed.If seen globally, several countries like Japan, Indonesia and so on have implemented this policy but in India, it is far away to be implemented and providing constitutional and natural justice to women.This paper focuses on various issues and challenges to women's rights to menstrual leave at the workplace in the present time.