Women given two days of ‘period leave’ a month in Chinese province
Women in a coastal province in northeastern China will soon be allowed to take paid leave for menstrual pain, South China Morning Post reports.
The regulation requires companies to grant one to two days leave for their female employees in Liaoning who are suffering from period pain.
Employees availing this leave will need to provide medical proof.
The said law will be effective beginning March this year.
Other provinces in China, such as Anhui, Shanxi, and Hubei, already provide menstrual leave to its female employees. This is seen as part of the Chinese government’s move to improve women’s rights in the workforce.
Liaoning’s implementation of the menstrual leave in itself is part of the province’s new set of regulations—which include 98 days of maternity leave and required anti-sexual harassment training in companies— that aim to protect women in the workforce.
According to the report, these laws aim to help women attain work-life balance, encouraging them to have children, to mitigate the country’s dwindling birth rate.
However, the report notes that not everyone believes the law will be effective, as it could lead companies to making discriminatory decisions against hiring women.
A number of Asian countries also offer menstrual leaves to female employees, such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Indonesia.