Menstrual health: the Department of Seine-Saint-Denis in turn launches a plan to organize working time

After the City of Saint-Ouen, pioneer in the introduction of menstrual leave, and while the Plaine Commune territory is in full reflection on the subject, it is the turn of the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis to announce in a press release, this Thursday, a plan for the organization of working time and support for its agents suffering from painful periods or other gynecological diseases.

Measures are also planned for women undergoing voluntary termination of pregnancy and those suffering from miscarriages. These measures will be taken as part of an experiment scheduled to start next September and last one year.

"The Department of Seine-Saint-Denis pursues ambitious objectives at the intersection between women's health issues, their right to control their bodies, support for parenthood and the articulation of professional and personal life times," the statement said.

This system is far from trivial in a community that has some 5,600 women out of a total of 7,400 employees, or 75 per cent of the total workforce. In concrete terms, staff suffering from endometriosis, adenomyosis or dysmenorrhea will be able to benefit from an adaptation of their workstation through additional teleworking days. Their activity could also be reduced.

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"In order to combat stereotypes and stigmatization", the Department is also considering a communication campaign dedicated to all staff. And to better support the agents concerned, it plans to create a monthly permanence and to strengthen the training of employees of preventive medicine and human resources.

Special leave of absence will also be granted to women undergoing abortion and those who have had a miscarriage, "in order to further improve the consideration of issues related to sexual health and women's right to control their bodies". The former will be able to benefit from one day, the latter from three days. For six years, parents have already been able to take time off for assisted reproduction courses and medical examinations during pregnancy.

"This experiment will be an additional lever for equality between women and men," said the president of the departmental council Stéphane Troussel (PS).