Women who suffer from severe menstrual pain to get three-day leave every month in Spain

Women who suffer from severe period pain will be allowed to take leave from work for up to three days each month under a reform plan about to be approved by Spain’s government next week, the Telegraph of UK reported.

The draft reform, revealed by the Cadena Ser radio station, will make Spain the first Western country to offer the right to menstrual leave, under which women would be guaranteed time off during their periods.

According to the Spanish Gynaecology and Obstetrics Society, around one-third of women who menstruate suffer from severe pain known as dysmenorrhea, with that proportion rising if pre-menstrual pain is also counted. Dysmenorrhea symptoms include acute abdominal pain, headaches, diarrhoea and fever.

“If someone has an illness with such symptoms, a temporary disability is granted, so the same should happen with menstruation – allowing a woman with a very painful period to stay at home,” Angela Rodriguez, the secretary of state for equality, disclosed.

The reform, set to be passed at next Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, includes other measures to improve menstrual health such as a requirement for schools to provide sanitary pads for girls who need them.

Sanitary pads and tampons will also be provided free to women in marginalised social circumstances and will have VAT removed from their sale price in supermarkets – a long-standing demand from women in Spain.

In the same reform package, Spain’s Left-wing government is planning to make abortion more widely available by removing the requirement for parental permission for 16 and 17-year-olds and guaranteeing access to terminations in public hospitals.

Currently, entire areas of the country are no-abortion zones because of opt-out policies under which doctors can refuse to practice abortions on ethical grounds.