One in ten women suffers from endometriosis in France, ie 2 to 4 million people, according to the Foundation for research into this disease which causes severe pain, especially during menstruation. The retail group Carrefour announced on Wednesday that its employees with endometriosis will thus be entitled to 12 days of absence per year, on presentation of a document attesting to their disability.
“To advance women’s rights and equality at work, we have decided (…) to grant 12 days off to women suffering from endometriosis, one day per month”, declared during a press conference the CEO of the group, Alexandre Bompard, believing that Carrefour is “the first major company to do so”. This measure will in particular benefit the “50,000 women who work every day in Carrefour stores in France”, detailed the CEO, who thus hopes “to change the daily life of our colleagues so that these women can flourish in the work without fear of being ostracized by their health”.
The retail group also announced two other measures related to the health of women at work: “three days of authorized medical absence following a miscarriage” – a measure currently being debated in Parliament -, as well as a day of absence for women having recourse to MAP, “at the time of the embryo transfer”. These measures only concern Carrefour employees in France for the moment, but Alexandre Bompard intends to “adapt the announcements that we are making today to all countries”, while “200,000 women are currently working” for the group. Announcements should soon be made concerning Italy and Spain, he said.
Several French companies are already experimenting with similar initiatives, in particular with a “menstrual leave” which is not reserved only for women suffering from endometriosis. This is the case, for example, of the cooperative society La Collective, which is the first to have introduced it in 2021. Employees thus have the possibility of taking one or more days of paid leave during their periods, which are not not counted as a work stoppage. On the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day, March 8, 2022, the furniture company Louis Design also introduced this measure, followed a few months later by the customer interaction management specialist, Critizr and the town hall of Saint-Ouen.
In France, if the measures of the companies multiply, the “menstrual leave” is not yet registered in the law. However, a proposal should be tabled in the coming weeks. “We must not stop at individual initiatives, this system must be generalized for all women who need it,” said Green MP Sébastien Peytavie on April 10. With Sandrine Rousseau and Marie-Charlotte Garin, the parliamentarians have also launched a consultation on the question, before the tabling of their text on May 26. Another initiative was also launched on the side of the Socialists, by the deputies Mickaël Bouloux and Fatiha Keloua Hachi.
If the subject is gaining momentum, it is particularly in relation to the establishment of “menstrual leave” in Spanish law, on February 16. “It is a question of granting this pathological situation an appropriate regulation in order to eliminate any negative bias” for women “in the world of work”, is it written in the text. The latter thus allows Spanish women who have painful periods to take a few days off, provided they have prior authorization from a doctor. In Europe, Spain is the first country to include this measure in its legislation. Worldwide, the device already existed in Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, Zambia and Japan. “Menstrual leave” appeared in Japanese law as early as 1947, but employees are generally not paid when they take days off.
