Karnataka’s October 2025 cabinet decision of approving 12 days menstrual paid leave annually has been widely appreciated from all sectors of the society, including the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). The decision has enabled the female workforce employed in government or private IT companies, multinational corporations (MNCs), mines, all factories, garments and private industry, to avail one paid leave per month based on their menstrual need and cycle.
With this, Karnataka becomes the fourth state in the country to bring a policy on menstrual leave.
Bihar, a pioneering state in this regard, brought in place in 1992 two days paid leave for women employees working in the state government sector.
In 2023, the Kerala government brought a policy to grant menstrual and maternity leave to all the female students of all the universities under the higher education department. While 75 percent of attendance is mandatory for the students to sit for the examinations, post the policy introduction, the cut off is 73 percent for female students to accommodate for the menstrual leave.
In 2024, Odisha, passed a law granting one day paid leave to women employees in government as well private sector, however unlike Karnataka, the Odisha government termed this as the casual leave. Though not through state legislation, the High Court of Sikkim in 2024 granted for a two-three days menstrual leave per month policy. However, it is a subject to officer’s recommendation.
Several private entities have also brought in place menstrual policy in their respective organisations such as Zomato (10 days paid menstrual leaves annually, effective since 2020); Swiggy (two days paid leave per month specifically to their female delivery workers); Byju’s (one day paid leave per month); and so on and so forth.
But beyond the four states with a menstrual leave policy and those working in the aforementioned organisations, women in the other 28 states are still waiting for the permission to rest, as a menstrual leave policy is grievously absent in India.
Women in the National Workforce
According to data from the Ministry of Labour and Employment, female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) stands at 41.7 percent in 2023-24, whereas the Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for females aged 15 years and above have risen to 40.3 percent in 2023-24.
Furthermore, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) data shows that during 2024-25, 26.9 lakh female subscribers were added to the it, underlining the growing share of women in the formal sector of employment. The World Bank has observed that the Indian women labour force participation is the highest amongst the BRICS nations over the last decade.
However, more revealing is the fact that more than the 90 percent of the female workforce in India works in the informal sector such as domestic help, small scale manufacturing units or agriculture, where they are already deficient of work security, secured and timely payments, fixed working hours, and sick leaves.
For decades, women in the workforce have faced a predicament due to menstrual pain, discomfort, and social stigma shrouded in silence and embarrassment. A policy at the national level is now not a step of progression, rather an attempt to make workplaces acclimated to the need of women—a need that is natural, normal, and rightful.
The Global Context
Japan was the first country to introduce a law on menstrual leave. The law since 1947 provides women to take a day off per month due to menstrual pain. The law also mandates that women shouldn’t be questioned for taking leave.
In Indonesia, a law on menstrual leave exists since 1948 (regenerated in 2003), giving women the right to take off on the first two days of the menstrual cycle, every month. On the other hand, South Korea’s policy on menstrual leave, in place since 2001, allows women to take one day off every month during menstruation.
Spain is the first country in Europe to pass a menstrual leave policy in 2023, providing three days leave with the facility of extending it to five days. The menstrual leave policy in Taiwan and Vietnam was passed in the year 2002 and 2020, respectively, both providing for three days paid leave per month. Zambia, meanwhile, provides for one day off per month, the law for which was passed in 2015.
India’s Missed Chances on Menstrual Leave
It is astonishing to note that in the 78 years since India’s independence, not a single government-backed bill addressing menstrual leave has ever been introduced in Parliament.
Over the past decade, several private member bills have been proposed, the latest being The Right of Women to Menstrual Leave and Free Access to Menstrual Health Products Bill, 2022, introduced by Member of Parliament Shri Hibi Eden in the Lok Sabha. The bill sought to mandate three days of paid menstrual leave across all establishments, three days of leave from educational institutions during menstruation for female students, and the right to free access to menstrual health products. However, like most private member bills, this one too did not progress beyond its introduction.
When nearly half the potential workforce of the country remains unacknowledged, unaccommodated and unaccounted for, we as a nation are jeopardising our cultural, economic, political and social potential from unleashing its true proportions. With only a handful of states enacting a regulation on menstrual leave, a vast majority of the women are left waiting to ever get seen or heard.
A robust framework at the national level, thus, not only becomes emblematic but is also imperative now to advance India’s aspirations and to also fuel her engine.
A national law would cater to the following crucial dimensions:
Universal Protection: Women across the length and breadth of the country and the employment categories, would be able to avail the standardised benefits, eliminating any scope of regional or industrial errors.
Just and Inclusive: A nationwide national framework would greatly foster inclusivity and equity in the workplaces with a sense of acknowledgement and sensitivity and would also strongly denounce the social stigma around it.
Strengthen Public Health: At present, neither the health nor the labour policies of country wholly integrate the menstrual policy thus formalising menstrual leave as health entitlement and not as concession would normalise menstruation, promoting workplace dignity.
What a National Menstrual Leave Policy Must Include
A national policy on menstrual leave must include at least:
Two days of paid leaves, which could be availed by women at any point of time during their menstruation.
A comprehensive framework as well as stakeholders’ recognition to include informal as well as gig workers.
Effective established authority at place to avoid the cases of discrimination and to ensure uniform implementation of the policy with regular feedback and evaluation.
Employer and colleague’s sensitisation sessions and programs.
A mandate for the public and private infrastructure to integrate menstrual hygiene standards.
Critics who oppose a policy on menstrual leave at the national level oftentimes rest their argument on the belief that this measure would lead to fewer hiring of women, or institutional discrimination.
However, measures like this would increase women's participation as the policy would safeguard their employment and health rights, allowing more women to join the workplace.
According to the ILO and IMF, increasing women's participation could boost India’s economy by 27 percent. Additionally, women's empowerment is at the centre of India's Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.
When half a population bleeds every month, inaction cannot be the policy. A menstrual policy at the national level is a necessity to advance gender equality, inclusivity, bodily autonomy, and a sheer acknowledgement of a natural phenomenon. It is a question of woman autonomy and rights. It is an attempt to give utterance to discourses - on equal citizenship and the freedom to access employment freely, without being discriminated on menstrual grounds, something which is long suppressed in the public domain. With 41.7 percent of female LFPR, 40.3 percent of female WPR, moreover over 90 percent of women workforce in informal sector without any protection, a national menstrual leave policy is not reformatory – it’s long overdue.
(The author is holds a B.A. (Hons.) in Political Science from Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi, and an M.A. in Public Policy from O.P. Jindal Global University. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)