This is a great first in Europe, which deserves to be underlined. This Thursday, February 16, 2023, the Spanish deputies definitively adopted a text of law which creates menstrual leave for people suffering from painful periods. If this measure is already in force elsewhere in the world, notably in Japan or Zambia, it is the first time that a European country has legislated on the issue.
Concretely, this law will allow that “ the work stoppage of a woman in the event of disabling rules “, for example resulting from pathologies such as endometriosis, will be” recognized as a special situation oftemporary incapacity of work. The duration of this leave, authorized on medical advice, will be fixed by the prescribing doctor and may be extended in the presence of one or more of the following symptoms: intense pain, cramps, colic, nausea, dizziness and vomiting. Spanish social security will be responsible for financing the measure.
Note that this strong measure is part of a bill on sexual and reproductive health, and on the voluntary termination of pregnancy. Other social advances have been votednotably :
- a law making it possible to freely change gender from the age of 16, via a simple administrative declaration, and without having to provide a medical report or provide proof of hormonal treatment,
- the possibility of having abortions from the age of 16 without parental consent,
- the abolition of the reflection period of 3 days currently in force for the use of abortion,
- free hormonal contraceptives, including the morning following pill.
« It’s a historic day for feminist advances “, greeted on Twitter the Minister of Equality Irene Montero, member of the left-wing Podemos party. Recall that the current Spanish Sanchez government has 14 women and 10 men.
