Soon specific leave for women suffering from menstrual pain?
This is what is currently being debated in the Senate, following the socialist group's proposal to establish leave for women in the event of painful periods.
“We can no longer continue to ask women to manage this chronic phenomenon alone, without support or awareness.
There is a response to be made,” Senator Hélène Conway-Mouret, who is carrying the bill, explains to AFP.
The text of the socialist senators provides for the establishment of a specific sick leave for cases of dysmenorrhea - menstrual pain -, including endometriosis: this leave would last a maximum of two days per month, without a waiting period. , with a medical certificate valid for one year.
Supported by the left and environmentalists, it was rejected in the Social Affairs Committee by the senatorial majority dominated by the right and the center, despite some centrist abstentions, according to a parliamentary source.
His examination in the hemicycle is scheduled for February 15.
The initiative is presented by Ms. Conway-Mouret as “a response to structures which have already decided to implement this menstrual cessation, in order to offer them a legal framework”.
Reluctance from the right
Several municipalities and local authorities announced the establishment of this menstrual leave last spring, after the adoption of this system by Spain on a national scale in February 2023. At the same time, a collective of mayors, including Anne Hidalgo (Paris) and Karim Bouamrane - mayor of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine who launched the movement last year - called for its generalization in an article published in Libération on Wednesday.
“We must lift the taboo on painful periods to move towards real equality between women and men,” launches this collective which also includes some UDI or various right-wing elected officials.
Also read: Menstrual leave: two thirds of French employees are in favor of it
In the National Assembly, the socialist and environmentalist deputies had each tabled a bill to this effect, but they had not been included on the agenda.
The measure is indeed struggling to gain traction in Parliament: in the Senate, a report had already positioned itself against the introduction of such sick leave, in June 2023, even if its conclusions had not achieved consensus among the rapporteurs.
“We must not underestimate the generational question: there is a small gap between those who are carrying this proposal and those who are obstructing it,” the senator and former Minister of Women's Rights regretted at a press conference on Wednesday. Laurence Rossignol, rapporteur on this text.
She nevertheless said she was “open” to discussion to amend the text for the public session.
In the spring, former Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne explained that the government was “looking at how to encourage” employers in this area.