The hope of one day seeing menstrual leave in France is already buried. A report by four senators published on Wednesday on the health of women at work rules out the establishment of this leave on the Spanish model for women suffering from painful periods.
The idea did not achieve consensus with senators Laurence Cohen (PCF), Annick Jacquemet (UDI), Marie-Pierre Richer (LR) and Laurence Rossignol (PS). Indeed the first three “consider that the introduction of a broad system for “painful menstruation” is not justified if a disabling pathology is not associated with it”. “In any case, for this type of pathologies, the answer is, according to them, a real therapeutic care rather than the establishment of a” leave “”, explains the report.
Laurence Rossignol believes for her part “that this leave, within limits which would be defined by law, responds to a global issue of visibility of women at work and professional equality”. Spain was the first European country to pass a law in February creating “menstrual leave for all women, in the form of sick leave granted by a doctor, fully financed by the State”, notes the report.
Endometriosis as a long-term condition
The four rapporteurs, on the other hand, agreed on the fact of including endometriosis in the list of long-term conditions (ALD 30), which would make it possible to eliminate the waiting period linked to sick leaves, and therefore the financial losses which resulting.
Endometriosis is a chronic female disease that affects between 1.5 and 2.5 million women in France, and which results in painful periods but also sometimes digestive, urinary, lumbar, heaviness in the legs…
According to Alice Romerio, author of a study cited by the senators on the consequences of this disease on professional life, “endometriosis significantly affects the daily work and professional career of women who are affected”.