Should Companies Offer Menstrual Leave?

 

Menstrual pain can make getting through the workday a real challenge, with symptoms like cramps, fatigue, and nausea often making it hard to focus or stay productive.

Menstrual pain can be brutal. It can make getting through the workday a real challenge, with symptoms like cramps, fatigue, and nausea often making it hard to focus or stay productive. 

And yet, most women still show up, pretending everything’s fine. Talking about it at work feels like a taboo. Even online, women sharing their experiences with PMDD faced backlash in big 2025.

Minus the pain, there’s the heavy pressure to smile, perform, and “power through” for that strong woman badge of honour. 

To understand what that really feels like, I spoke with women who’ve faced heavy flow and crippling cramps on the job. Their stories highlight why menstrual leave deserves serious consideration.

Women and Their Workplace Experience 

1. Banke – Remote Worker

I experience period pain, usually starting on the first or second day. If it begins in the evening, the next day is often the hardest. I feel extremely drowsy and tired, so I’m rarely productive during that time. 

To cope, I work in short bursts, doing what I can when I feel better, then resting. If the workload is heavy and I can’t take a break, I push through as best as I can. 

Otherwise, I alternate between resting and working. When tasks are light, I rest most of the day and catch up later. I’ve never taken a sick day for it; I don’t like making excuses when I should be working, so I just manage and keep going.

2. Gigi – Hybrid

I experience painful periods and heavy flow. Coping with it can be hard sometimes, but these days I've learnt to rely heavily on certain drugs.

When I get my period, and I decide to experience it without drugs, I can do almost nothing except roll around and probably cry. So, yes. It affects my productivity.

I sometimes take sick leave, and I'm comfortable explaining why when I do. The concept of menstrual leave is very debatable. Knowing how the system is, it might cause employers to want to employ women less. But in a fairer world, by all means, yes.

3. Ayo – Hybrid 

I’m currently at work battling every shade of menstrual pain. I have a heavy flow and painful period that comes with nausea and diarrhoea. 

I’ve also come to notice that I’m very forgetful when on my period. All of these have made working while on my period a painful experience, but I get through it anyway. 

I get better after the first three days. But I force myself to work and take extra pads. I sometimes pair with a tampon just to avoid embarrassment. 

Online, many women have publicly expressed the debilitating and excruciating pain and symptoms they experience and the unfairness of having to work or function optimally in every area of their lives. 

From the experiences of the women I interviewed, one thing remains a constant. While the majority advocated for menstrual leave, they also agreed that it reinforces old stereotypes about women at work, as shown in the tweets below.

The unfairness against women in the workplace is evident in cases such as this.

Taking menstrual or maternity leave doesn’t mean women are less committed and deserve to earn less than their male counterparts. 

This goes to show that workplaces often fail to accommodate biological realities fairly. If anything, offering proper support like ‘paid’ menstrual leave, as Spain did, helps level the playing field. 

It allows women to perform at their best rather than forcing them to work through pain or exhaustion.

Virtually every time a case like this resurfaces, there are internet banger boys who run the agenda to pit women against each other just to make a point.  

While some people believe periods shouldn’t be so painful that they affect the quality of life and advise that women who do should see a medical professional to discuss their options, it still doesn’t take away the fact that there are women who do.

It also doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be accommodation for it. 

Medical studies show that up to 80% of women experience period pain, and around 10% battle conditions like endometriosis, which can be as painful as a heart attack.

Ignoring these realities is like asking employees to perform through injury.

Can Companies Implement Menstrual Leave In Nigeria?

Elizabeth (not a real name), an HR professional, explained that it’s a complicated issue that really needs to start from the top. The idea itself is new and interesting, but for it to work, there has to be a leading organisation willing to set the example. 

A lot also depends on the industry—how many women are in the workforce and how the change might affect productivity.

In fields where most employees are women, it could actually disrupt workflow. Many nursing mothers already don’t get enough leave, and there was even a recent case where a pregnant woman missed out on a promotion because of her condition. 

In male-dominated workplaces, where women already have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously, this kind of initiative might not gain much support. Some women might even hesitate to back it, worried it could end up sidelining them instead. 

What is The Way Forward?

True progress isn’t just about policy. If companies simply announce “menstrual leave” without shifting attitudes, they risk complacency. Real inclusion means:

·         Normalising menstrual health conversations without shame.

·         Offering flexible leave that covers all health and well-being needs.

·         Training managers to handle the topic with empathy, not awkwardness.

·         Designing policies that support everyone, from menstruation to menopause, from mental health to caregiving.

At its heart, the menstrual leave debate isn’t really just about time off. It’s about what fairness and equity mean for women in a modern workplace.

And equity means giving people what they need to perform at their best, even if their needs look different. Therefore, companies should indeed offer menstrual leave. 

 

Credit: Pulseng