The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in its Maharashtra poll manifesto has promised a two-day menstrual leave a month for women employees, the first such promise by a major coalition of political parties.

In the past, politicians have triggered debate on menstrual leave. Some have opposed it, while others made unsuccessful attempts to bring legislation on it.

On December 13, 2023, then Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani told the Rajya Sabha that menstrual leave could lead to discrimination against women in the workforce, saying it is not a “handicap”. She was responding to a supplementary query by RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha on whether the government was looking into providing a law for menstrual leave.

“We should not propose issues where women are in some way denied an equal opportunity just because somebody who does not menstruate has a particular viewpoint towards menstruation,” Irani said.

She said as a menstruating woman herself, “menstruating and menstrual cycle is not a handicap” and that it is “a natural part of a woman’s life journey”.

In a written reply to an unstarred question by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in the Lok Sabha on the same issue five days earlier, Irani had said, “Menstruation is a physiological phenomenon among women and only a small proportion of women/ girls suffer from severe dysmenorrhea or similar complaints”, adding “most of these cases are manageable by medication”.

“At present, there is no proposal under consideration of the government to make provision for paid menstrual leave mandatory for all workplaces,” she said.

In the Lok Sabha, at least three attempts have been made in recent years to bring in Private Members’ Bills to propose menstrual leave. The first such attempt was made in 2017, when the then Congress MP from Arunachal Pradesh, Ninong Ering, introduced the Menstruation Benefits Bill 2017, which advocated for four-day leave during menstruation.

Subsequently, the Right to Menstrual Hygiene and Paid Leave Bill, 2019, was introduced in the Lower House by Congress MP from Tamil Nadu, M S Jothimani. It proposed a right to “paid leave” and absence from work for three days of the menstrual cycle.

Then in 2022, Congress MP from Kerala, Hibi Eben, introduced The Right of Women to Menstrual Leave and Free Access to Menstrual Health Products Right. This Bill proposed paid leave and absence from work for three days during her menstruation in any establishment registered with the government. For female students, it proposed the same timeframe in educational institutions.

Tharoor introduced The Women’s Sexual, Reproductive and Menstrual Rights Bill, 2018, with the stated aim to “amend certain enactments to emphasise on the agency of a woman in her sexual and reproductive rights and to guarantee menstrual equity for all women by the State”. It had a provision for providing sanitary napkins by authorities in their premises.

All of these Bills were Private Members’ Bills, meaning legislative proposals introduced by a member of the House who is not a minister. Although they constitute a chunk of legislative Bills, these are hard to push through even for discussions.

The menstrual leave issue thus never came up for discussion but the matter has been raised as part of questions that the MPs ask in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha over the years.

In March 2023, MPs T N Prathapan, Benny Behanan and Rajmohan Unnithan from Kerala posed an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha to Irani as to whether the government had considered making provision for paid menstrual leave mandatory for all workplaces.

The reply then, given by Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar was also similar to the response Irani gave to Tharoor.

“Menstruation is a normal physiological phenomenon and only a small proportion of women or girls suffer from severe dysmenorrhea or similar complaints; and most of these cases are manageable by medication. The government implements the Scheme for Promotion of Menstrual Hygiene among adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 years. The Scheme is supported by the National Health Mission through the State Programme Implementation Plan (PIP) route based on the proposals received from the States/UTs,” Pawar said.

On March 8, 2020, Tharoor started a conversation on the topic when he tweeted a petition advocating for menstrual leave for women at public and private workplaces. Replying to him, Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammad said, “Why should women have Menstrual leave? We are strong enough to work, run, exercise & do whatever a man does at his workplace while we have our menstrual cycle!”