The question of a menstrual leave law is dividing Czech employers, feminists, and politicians. But many say a policy change is long overdue.
In discussions of labor policy, there is one issue that is rarely discussed when reviewing workplace gender equality, although it affects almost half of the workforce: the impact of menstruation on employees’ well-being.
“I always pray my heavy days fall on the weekend,” explains one woman, summing up the feelings of many who participated in a recent anonymous survey. Another says she is “constantly afraid I’ll bleed through my clothes – I once bled through my pants at work and had to stay there all day.”
But efforts to address what has long been a taboo subject are taking shape. A petition to introduce menstrual leave in the Czech Republic is rapidly gaining support since it was published on the website petice.com in mid-June. As of early August, more than 33,000 people had signed it, igniting national debate about workplace equality and Czech labor policy as it applies to women’s health issues.
Raising Awareness
If menstrual leave were instituted, Czechia would be only the third country in Europe to introduce it, following Spain and Montenegro. In Spain, women are entitled to three days of paid menstrual leave per month, while women in Montenegro are entitled to two days. Both countries require official medical certification. While supporters argue that menstrual leave legislation would provide a more dignified solution to a biological reality, critics warn it could create economic challenges, increase workplace discrimination, and possibly be abused by workers.
But the petition’s initiator, Petr Tuma, explains to Transitions that the effort is a response to “growing awareness that this is a widespread yet largely unaddressed issue.” With a background in process optimization, quality standards, and workplace safety, Tuma said he became interested in the issue after speaking with women from his community and in his professional environment. He came to the conclusion that the current system does not offer a sufficient solution for women who suffer from severe menstrual pain.
Alongside the petition, women were invited in the anonymous survey to explain how menstruation affects their work performance, how they cope with menstrual symptoms, and to share their personal experiences working while menstruating. The survey has received more than 1,800 responses from women across a range of professions, including office workers, social workers, and laborers.
Ninety-nine percent of women who responded to the survey say menstruation sometimes affected their work performance and 82% said that they still go to work despite severe pain.
“During presentations or meetings, you simply can’t leave every 30 minutes to change menstrual products,” writes one woman.
Another details the difficulty in managing her limited time during breaks: “There are breaks once every two, three hours, but I have to choose what to do in those five minutes. Toilet? Food? Of course the toilet, but when should I eat?”
Many survey respondents say they had been diagnosed with chronic menstrual disorders, including heavy bleeding, severe cramps, and the painful uterine disorders endometriosis and adenomyosis. Other effects can include migraines, dizziness, and anxiety.
The comments mirror the findings of international research, such as a recent study that suggests that severe menstrual pain lowers physical and cognitive abilities by reducing focus, slowing reaction time, and reducing physical strength. These effects can cause consequences for workers, customers, and employers.
“It’s very difficult to be a support for sick people when I feel terrible myself,” writes a social worker who participated in the Czech survey. “I don’t have the strength to help them physically [or] psychologically when I feel so bad,” says another.
Another woman who works with children with disabilities describes how menstruation makes her more irritable and nervous, making it difficult to perform at her full capacity.
More than 76% of respondents report that menstruation is not discussed in the workplace or is perceived as taboo. This is supported with comments like: “I hide my illness because I don’t want colleagues to think women are weak,” “No one believes me,” and “People think I’m exaggerating.”
The petition is intended to change the narrative by bringing the issue into the open. It calls for legislation to ensure that women can take a certain number of days per month of paid or unpaid leave. Sick leave and vacation days are not an adequate solution, it says. The petition stresses that the goal is “not to disadvantage men or unjustifiably privilege women,” but “is about leveling the playing field based on biological reality and creating a humane working environment.”
However, Tuma stresses that he and a small group behind the survey and the petition are “intentionally not advocating for a single fixed model,” and are currently looking “to move the debate from assumptions to evidence.”
The petition has already by far exceeded the 10,000 signatures required to force an official government review. Once all the results are in, the petition organizers plan this fall to address legislators with an eye to developing a policy.
“Any concrete proposal should be developed in dialogue with policymakers, employers, and experts,” Tuma tells Transitions.
‘Who Pays the Costs?’
Tuma says the introduction of menstrual leave would be a clear signal that the Czech Republic “takes into account the real needs of its citizens.”
But the idea faces wide-ranging opposition, including from employers, male workers, and even some feminist scholars.
Some employers have raised concerns that they could be required to provide additional days of paid or unpaid leave.
Dana Kanel, co-owner of a cleaning firm, told Transitions that she employs 50 workers, all female. She provides a hypothetical situation that if an employee earns 100 euros for an eight-hour shift, the net cost to the company is far higher when factoring in health insurance and social security.
Kanel then poses a question that many business owners are asking: “If an employee takes leave, who pays for these costs? The state? Or would the burden fall on the employer?”
Some survey respondents express guilt over the impact of their situation on others. “It’s unfair to my coworkers who have to cover my shifts, and unfair to my employer,” says one woman. “But the first two days [of my period] I can barely move. I always pray those days fall on my days off.”
Others propose an alternative they believed could better accommodate workers while limiting the burden on employers: working from home.
“Home office lets me keep working while managing the pain,” one woman writes.
As remote work has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, some women see it as a potential middle ground between taking leave, and working through pain or fear of embarrassing situations.
According to Tuma, for many the petition has marked the first time the topic of menstruation has been openly acknowledged. This is evident on social media, which has also provided a platform for people to weigh in on menstrual leave.
Some are derisive. “Sure, it’s definitely not going to be abused,” was one sarcastic response to a loose Instagram poll about the petition posted by the music television outlet Ocko. Some of the more than 1,300 replies were openly misogynistic and not fit for print.
But others were supportive or indicated willingness to engage in dialogue on the subject.
“I’m a little skeptical about this topic (I’m not saying that I think it’s necessarily wrong),” writes one man. “Just as women can’t be blamed for their menstrual cycle, men can’t be blamed for not having one either. Should [men] therefore have to work harder?”
Silvie Lauder, a journalist who covers gender issues for the weekly Respekt, argues that the discussions of biological differences between men and women have some discrepancies. She claims anti-feminists sometimes point to biological differences to criticize feminism, but then don’t acknowledge menstruation when discussing workplace accommodations.
“First of all, [feminists] don’t say men and women are the same, and second of all, if you care about the biological differences so much, why don’t you care about this biological difference? Because menstruation is the one biological difference,” Lauder says.
Radka Dudova, a sociologist who specializes in gender and social inequalities, argues that the debate over menstrual leave reflects a larger problem with how workplaces are structured. “The ‘ideal worker’ is, in reality, a myth. Every worker experiences certain bodily limitations at different points in their life course,” she says.
Lauder and Dudova are among Czech feminists who are hesitant about menstrual leave. They argue that if women regularly take time off work because of menstruation, the policy could unintentionally reinforce stereotypes that women are less capable in professional life or holding management positions. In turn, Lauder warns, this could cause the gender pay gap and employment bias to widen.
Tuma believes this possibility is one to take seriously; however, his perspective is that “ignoring the issue does not eliminate differences, it only makes them invisible. The aim is not to define women through biological differences, but to acknowledge a real factor that impacts part of the workforce and to respond to it in a rational and proportionate way.”
Beyond Menstrual Leave
The concerns people have about introducing menstrual leave reflect deeper societal attitudes and realities: reform does not automatically cause fair treatment.
“The Czech experience with relatively long periods of care leave, particularly parental leave, demonstrates how easily arrangements that are normatively justified can be used against women,” says Dudova.
Some have expressed a concern regarding a recurring pattern: reforms are passed in the Czech workplace, guidelines are established, and yet these reforms are not consistently enforced and employers repeatedly find work-arounds.
Mothers are entitled to a maximum of three years of parental leave, with the guarantee that upon returning to work, they will be rehired and given the same position they had previous to their leave. This policy was seen as a major step toward gender equality in Czechia. Examples show, however, that this guarantee is not always upheld.
Lauder spoke to a woman who was originally the CFO of a company, but once she returned from maternity leave was given a job as a receptionist, in blatant violation of the law.
Lauder cites another example: “the woman comes back, and the employer waits a month or two, and then they fire them.”
In addition, a study by the Czech ombudsman’s office from 2023 demonstrates how women in their late 20s face hiring disadvantages and implicit bias because employers expect them to become pregnant and therefore take maternity leave in the near future.
For menstrual leave as well, women report similar treatment: “I was forced to sign a termination agreement after taking sick leave due to painful menstruation after which the gynecologist diagnosed me with endometriosis. I was told that they needed someone who was ‘more reliable,’ ” writes one woman in the anonymous survey.
For critics, this example demonstrates how menstrual leave could lead to increased workplace gender disparity. For supporters, it demonstrates why leave should be instituted in the first place.
Is Czechia Ready?
The conversation surrounding menstruation in Czech society and media has changed in the last 10 years, and it continues to change, according to Lauder. More and more influencers are talking about menstruation, and the discussion is starting to include men as well.
The publisher of the petition, Tuma, is male, and Lauder cites the example of Ostrava Deputy Mayor Zbynek Prazak, who spearheaded a program to provide free menstrual products to all primary schools in the city. “I’m not saying that a man’s voice is more important. I’m just saying that unfortunately we’re still in the phase of society where the male voice is taken more seriously.”
When asked what would need to happen in Czech society for legislation such as this to be successful, Lauder admits change would need to come from larger corporations like the automaker Skoda, and ones that mostly employ women. These companies would need to express that “yes, this is important. We care about the health of our employees, and we are going to implement this.”
In Spain, a European pioneer in crafting a menstrual leave policy, the benefit has seen little use since it was introduced in 2023.
Dudova believes Czechia would follow a similar trend.
“Women who have a certain degree of flexibility and control over their working conditions would probably have other ways of managing difficult menstruation,” the sociologist says. “Women who lack such control might be afraid to take menstrual leave because they would fear becoming even more disadvantaged in the workplace.”
Tuma responds to this concern, saying the importance of menstrual leave is not necessarily the number of women who make use of it but rather ensuring the option exists.
He then sums up what must happen in the future for reforms such as these to truly be successful: “Legislation is only the first step; it must be accompanied by a broader cultural change in how we view health and well-being at work.”
Lila Ackerman is an editorial intern at Transitions. She is a senior at New Paltz High School in New York and writes for her school’s newspaper, The Maroon. She hopes to study journalism in the future.
