#PeriodLeave I wondered if I should put this out, but, had to. I was back at work exactly 2.5 months after having my son. My then employer @the_hindu did everything to make life easy. Those were the days of 3 mths maternity leave, and I went on leave a fortnight before delivery.
I was allowed flexi hours. However, I also suffered from severe pain, cramping and clotting. I would place a bunch of papers on my chair. We were a mostly-women team, and they understood. The Chief of Bureau, a male, understood when I stood outside his room, panic on my face.
I went through two surgeries for an anal fistula, which is deeply painful, and wonder of wonders was back at work in less than 10 days, with a pillow in hand. I would go for my dressing during lunch break and come back and cheerfully work. I withstood that pain!
But, when I got my periods, I could not. I have a good pain threshold, but not for this. I would walk out of interviews mid-way, PTA meetings too, because I knew I could not handle the wave of white-hot pain that would sear through me. I've sat in the car and cried.
My son, now 17, knew that when his mother sat on a rubber sheet and drove the car, he had to get down at home before she did, and check if the coast was clear. It was that bad! And so, do not tell me that we women must bear period pain.
Or that by allowing ourselves that leave, we are closing the door for other women to enter the workforce. We worked despite that. We cleaned up the mess, curled up in agony, smiled again, and wrote or did whatever else we had to. This is real.
While one can be brave with SOME pain, we cannot with others. Women and girls who suffer need their space to heal, without feeling guilty about taking a day off. Allow them that. Yes, some might misuse it, but then, any leave can be. The benefits in this case outweigh the risks.
