by Charles Liu
The NanfangToday, 11:15 AM
Lawmakers in Guangdong are considering a proposal to grant paid leave for female employees suffering from menstrual cramps. Known as “pink holidays’, the issue of menstrual leave was included as part of draft legislation designed to protect women workers. The draft was posted to the website of Guangdong’s office of legislative affairs on Tuesday, and is soliciting public opinion until December 3.
The bill proposes that employers grant one-day paid leave to female workers suffering painful cramps during menstruation, so long as the female worker has a medical note from a doctor to prove she is incapable of working during her period.
The legislation is a victory for Guangdong grassroots campaigners who have been calling for “pink holidays” since July of last year. At that time, MBA students at Sun Yat-sen University argued that “it would be best to let (women) recover at home” and devised a campaign in which stripped male models had messages written upon their bare skin like, “Women are like flowers, please cherish and take care of them.”
This past July, Anhui lawmakers were considering their own proposal for menstrual leave. In legislation that covered women in the workplace, the Anhui bill proposed that women could take up to two days off work each month, so long as they provided a doctor’s note.
Menstrual leave has become law throughout many Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Indonesia.
A Russian proposal to implement menstrual leave in 2013 was met with condemnation from human rights groups. Anna Sobko, a lawyer with Russia’s oldest human rights group, Memorial, said, “This argument is obviously improper, unreasonable and nothing close to being serious.”
There have been other calls to recognize the special needs of women workers in China.
Last month, a Shenzhen white collar worker publicly protested against the working conditions of her company, complaining that the late hours imposed upon her by her boss were making her face age rapidly and ruining her prospects for marriage (seen above).
In related news about “pink” accommodations for women, “pink parking spots” are quickly becoming commonplace in China. The extra-large parking spots are reserved for female drivers, and first began appearing in 2014 at malls in Dalian, Chongqing, and thenShanghai. Spokespersons for the malls denied being discriminatory towards women, saying that they are providing a service for women.
The post Guangdong Considers “Pink Holidays” For Menstruating Women appeared first on The Nanfang.
https://thenanfang.com/guangdong-considers-giving-women-time-off-work-period/
