“On March 8, we decided to set up menstrual leave for Saint-Ouen agents.declared the mayor of the commune of Seine-Saint-Denis in a column published on Liberation this March 24, 2023.”This leave is intended for women suffering from painful and incapacitating menstruation, as well as endometriosis”he continued.
For the first time in France, a municipality has decided to experiment with menstrual leave for its 1,200 menstruating employees, like the one who was adopted in February 2023 in Spain. “Women represent half of the population and half of them suffer from painful menstruation or incapacitating menstruation (…) In Saint-Ouen, we have 2,000 agents, including 1 200 women. Which statistically means that we have between 500 and 600 women victims of painful periods. We couldn’t stand still”indicated the PS mayor to France info.
´Menstrual leave is a fundamental right ´. My forum published in @libe from March 23, 2023 @villesaintouen@EnoraMofficiel@laurossignol@l_amf. pic.twitter.com/hSIHbYg2A5
— Karim Bouamrane (@karim_bouamrane) March 25, 2023
As for endometriosis, a particularly debilitating chronic disease, it affects 10% of women of childbearing age. Menstrual leave would then be a “first step“to solve the problem linked to this disease, which has been recognized as a long-term condition since January 2022.
Two days of special leave of absence
How does it work concretely? They can, since this Monday, March 27, take one to two days each month, in the event of too disabling rules. “On medical advice, female agents can now benefit from job accommodation, increased use of teleworking or two days off. taken within the legal framework of the special absence authorizations (ASA) introduced during the health crisis“, details Karim Bouamrane. This system allows in particular that no day of waiting is counted and to avoid the stigmatization around this subject which should no longer be taboo.
If the mayor of Saint-Ouen welcomes this progress and hopes that other cities will take the same decision, he believes that this solution remains “experimental and fragile“.”Menstrual leave must be translated into a clear and precise legal basis in order to protect this protective right“, affirms Karim Bouamrane, who moreover wrote a letter to the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron so that France officially recognizes this right, like other countries like Japan (where menstrual leave has been enshrined in law since 1947), Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan and Zambia.