Open Letter - 25

 Dear society,

How are you? I am fine and I hope to hear the same from you. Now that the season of celebrations has come, you must be more careful with crowds and social gatherings. Niceties aside, I am writing this letter to talk to you about one particular issue that has been troubling my mind all last week. Women across the country are supposedly fighting for menstrual leave and this news made me contradict with myself as many times as I had the time to give it a thought.

When I was at school, I would be called regularly irregular because I would always stay back home on my periods. This trend continued to my college days and there were certain important events too that I had to miss due to this weakness.

A leave for periods hence seemed to be a blessing to me at first. Girls will no longer have to explain why they need a leave on their day of the month and worse, they don’t have to explain that periods is a painful experience that deems to be considered for a leave. Every time a girl applies for a sick leave citing menstruation, she does not have to convince herself that periods indeed is a sickness and not a biological process that her body is made to undergo every month.

However, one thing kept hitting me back saying that it is all going wrong somewhere. Yes, girls with cramps and menstrual illness do need to take an off on their day of the month. But, does a dedicated menstrual leave answer this concern without leaving any traces of gendered workplace rules?

During my schooling, when I stayed back from school, my mother would also take an off and stay by my side. She would tell me, the greatest medicine for any weakness is human company. During those days, we would have long conversations about various happenings in the world. She would read a book for me or talk to me about ongoing political issues. I might have missed my classes those days but the conversations I had with my mother weigh more than all that I missed at school.

Once, she told me all about menstrual discrimination and how women have come a long way from those dark days. She told me about women who had to stay at isolated huts on the outskirts of villages during their periods and how many a time young girls would die out of fear or snake bites. Her own experiences of leading the life of an outcast during her periods and the way her sisters fought their way out of that practice made me realise I was lucky to have that woman as my mother. She fought not just for herself but for all the girls to follow her lineage. With this menstrual leave in place, I am afraid their success might all go to vain.

One reason that always comes to the defense of this ill-practice is the need for women to take rest during their periods. If women are given a menstrual leave, it might tend to prove the not-yet-confirmed research studies that say women cannot work during their periods. Our over-enthusiastic religious leaders might as well put it that Indian scriptures did mention this issue long back and that is why women are put away from domestic chores during their menstruation. The no-temple-entry on periods boards, stay-at-home-during-periods boards all get sanctioned under this menstrual law.

Menstruation is not a hindrance to work and if it turns out to be, we always have sources to stay back and rest. But this particular emphasis on menstrual leave definitely seems to leave a darker trace on gender related issues than it seems from the outside.

By the way, if I happen to give birth to a daughter and she gets to stay back on her periods, maybe I will have to then fight for mothers-of-menstruating-girls leave every month. Because, I wouldn’t possibly be able to leave her alone at home. Few years down lane, we might actually bring back the Gaokar system citing the need for women to have rest during their periods.

Dear society, I am woman with painful menstrual experiences, having been hospitalized a considerable number of times during my periods but still, if you ask me if I need a menstrual leave, I will say No. No, because I don’t want my daughter to stay away from her work on her periods saying she needs a break too. No, because I don’t want any girl to avoid challenging jobs taking into purview her inability to work during menstruation.

Please let me know what you think about this. I will be waiting for your reply. 

Yours lovingly,

An Expecting Mother.