An employee restocks tampons in Sacramento, Calif., on June 22, 2016.Rich Pedroncelli/The Associated Press
Sheema Khan is the author of Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman.
Growing up in a South Asian household, any mention of menstruation was taboo – especially in front of my father or brother. Public high school in the 1970s wasn’t much better, due to the “ick” factor. I remember dreading the monthly visit of “Aunt Flo,” with her attendant intense cramps, though I know others had it worse. We all suffered in silence, as the prevailing culture suffocated any discussion about a topic that was so central to females.
I later came to learn that in Islam, menstruation is viewed as a natural phenomenon, to be managed with compassion. During her menses, a woman is exempt from the daily ritual prayers and fasting. While sexual intercourse is forbidden during menstruation, physical intimacy is encouraged between spouses. In short, women are not regarded as “unclean,” nor is it taboo to discuss an aspect that is both natural and central to the lives of women.
I decided to apply this holistic approach in my own family. Once, my husband called from a pharmacy, asking if I wanted anything. For the first time, I asked for sanitary pads. Minutes later, he called back, exasperated: “Wings? No wings? Nighttime? Heavy? Light?” He eventually became an expert, and would later offer the same service to our teenage daughters. Mortified (“Dad? Eww!”), they politely declined.
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When my son was 8, he noticed I would occasionally refrain from daily prayers. He asked why. I explained that every month, an egg was created inside a women’s body; meanwhile her body underwent internal changes to nourish a baby. If the egg didn’t become a baby, then all that prep work left the body, during which time, I might feel some pain and weakness; as such, women were excused from praying or fasting. While he found the biology class a little gross, he came to understand that menstruation was natural.
We’d like to think we’ve progressed since the 1970s. And yet, Gloria Steinem’s satirical 1978 essay, If Men Could Menstruate, illustrates how far we still have to go. According to Ms. Steinem, “sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free” (although some would pay for brand names such as “Paul Newman Tampons” or “Muhammad Ali’s Rope-a-Dope Pads”). Congress “would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea” to minimize monthly work loss, while doctors would research ”everything about cramps.” In short, menstruation would be normalized, celebrated and accommodated.
In reality, stigma surrounding menstruation still exists, while accommodation for women is not even part of the conversation. However, Free Periods Canada has found that “many workplaces around the world are now adopting menstrual leave,” which allows an employee to take time off if they cannot work while menstruating, typically in addition to standard sick leave.
Last November, the Indian state of Karnataka mandated 12 days of paid leave annually for women aged 18 to 52 in private- and public-sector jobs. Since 1947, Japan has a national menstrual leave policy that allows women one to three days off monthly for painful periods. South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam and Zambia also have national menstrual leave policies, while Spain became the first European country to offer paid menstrual leave in 2023.
There have been bumps along the way. The Guardian reports that in Asian countries, women often decline to take menstrual leave, due to stigma, resentment and harassment by co-workers.
In Canada, women have fought for better living and working conditions, including maternity leave and benefits. After much lobbying, the federal government eliminated the GST on all menstrual products in 2015, while requiring employers in all federally regulated workplaces to provide free menstrual products in 2023. But we must do more.
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According to a 2005 study, roughly 60 per cent of Canadian women experience painful menstrual periods; the pain limits daily activities of roughly half these women, while 17 per cent report missing school or work. About 10 per cent of women suffer from endometriosis that causes severe pain.
The pain and anxiety are real. As Eternity Martis wrote in the Walrus in 2017, “lost productivity is a reality for many women, who grin and bear it, trying to go to work but unable to function; check anxiously for leakage, and make frequent trips to the washroom. The alternative is to miss a day’s pay and be anxious about calling in sick at the last minute, and then dealing with the risk of getting fired.”
We have made great strides removing the taboo around mental illness. Surely, with women at the forefront of this effort, we can remove the stigma around menstruation and chart a wise, compassionate leave policy that addresses the real, physical pain felt by so many every month.