Supreme Court raises concerns over mandatory menstrual leave, says it could impact women’s hiring

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has refused to pass orders regarding the implementation of mandatory menstrual leave, arguing that the move will lead to other unintended effects on working women in the country.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition that demanded that governments should give orders to have women employees and students in India have paid leave during their menstrual days.

In the hearing, the court noted that any legislation that makes menstrual leave mandatory would potentially have an unwanted impact on the employment opportunities of women. The bench observed that employers may start perceiving women employees as a burden if they have a legal obligation to grant them extra leave every month.

The judges also noted that such a policy could enforce even more unintentional stereotypes regarding what women could do in the workplace and hence contradict the overall aim of gender equality.

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At the same time, the court made it clear that the institutions or companies may implement menstrual leave policies on their own, provided that they have the intention to support women employees. The judges, however, pointed out that formulating a rule that covers the entire nation is an issue that should be left to the policy-making aspect of the government and not the courts.

It had petitioned the court to have both the state and the Centre governments implement menstrual leave as a statutory right of women. The court recommended that the petitioner go to the government with the proposal instead of giving orders, so that the proposal can be consulted and discussed in policy formulation.

In recent years, the problem of menstrual leave has been debated in India, and some organisations and institutions have implemented their own policies to provide menstrual leave. The remarks of the court, though, serve to illustrate the complications that arise in the process of striking a balance between workplace support and equal employment opportunities.

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