Bhubaneshwar: Odisha makes a historic announcement for women working in the private and government sectors in the state on Thursday. In a significant step, Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida announced a one day paid menstrual leave for women during Independence Day celebrations in Cuttack.

Parida, who is in charge of the women & child development department, said that the women employees can take the menstrual leave on the first or second day and it will be optional. This development comes in light of Supreme Court’s call to the Centre on July 8 to consider the idea of a paid menstrual leave policy.

States with paid menstrual leaves

With this historic announcement, Odisha joins the other two states- Bihar and Kerala who had already implemented menstrual leave policies. This policy came into effect in 1992 in Bihar while Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan extended menstrual leave to every women in all universities in the state in 2023. Odisha is now the third state in the country to come up with an aim to support well-being of the women workers.

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Central Government’s plan

The Centre, however has no plans to implement this policy. Minister of Women and Child Development Annapurna Devi, on July 26 has clarified government’s stance on this issue. She said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that there is no proposal by the Government currently to make provision for paid menstrual leave mandatory for all workplaces.

Many women have complained about this issue and asked for extending paid menstrual leave in workplace from time to time. Attempts to pass Menstrual Benefits Bill, 2017 and other related bills have been unsuccessful. Odisha’s initiative to address this problem has once again shifted the focus of the nation on women’s health and well-being.

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