Principal of Glenmuir High calls for menstrual leave at Old Harbour event marking International Women’s Day

Spain, the first European country to legislate menstrual leave into law, join South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Zambia, Japan and Indonesia to enact such legislation.

The issue here in Jamaica is being widely discussed as well with proponents arguing for and against.

Adding her voice to the discourse is Dr Marsha Smalling, principal of the Glenmuir High School in Clarendon.

And though she did not put forward a workable proposal on how period leave could work in Jamaica, the veteran educator believes the time has come to at least start the conversation on a sensitive and delicate issue.

While speaking at an International Women’s Day brunch and awards ceremony hosted by the South St Catherine Chamber of Commerce, Dr Smalling made the special appeal while highlighting the distinct difference between equality and equity.

“Let us use menstruating women,” she told a full house inside Russell’s T20 Restaurant and Sports Bar in Old Harbour. “Equality is that we all have a job. We all go to work; we get similar pay based on our years of experience.”

“But as women,” she continues “even when the pain rocks us and the nausea hits us really hard, and we really can’t move, we can’t go to work.

“They’re others who believe that [we must] ‘keep working, keep going’. The empathy is not there. So what?!

“I’m going to make this call: Spain has done it and Japan is one of the countries that have included in their labour law paid menstruation leave; and that is something that I want to see us implement as a country. And I want this to resonate, I’m not sure who is going to carry this message but I want for us to be entitled to menstruation leave. I have experienced it. I have seen staff members, not just at Glenmuir, but I know women who suffer; and when you are entitled to specific number of days, as sick leave or departmental leave, I think this particular leave should be separate and apart from everything else.

“So equity is doing that little extra to enable us to carry out our roles and responsibilities in an effective way.”

Japan in 1947 and then Indonesia in 1948 are the first two nations to make menstruation leave a legal right.

Dysmenorrhea or period pain is very common among women, with data indicating that more than 50% of women experienced severe abdominal pain during the first two days of their menstrual cycle which often prohibit them from performing basic tasks in some instances.