Left Behind: The Women Missing from India’s Period Leave Conversation

India often celebrates its cultural richness and resilience, yet its labour market tells a different story where women make up less than a quarter of the workforce. This isn’t just a statistic; it’s a reflection of deep, systemic barriers. Laws like Equal Remuneration Act and the Maternity Benefit Act were introduced with the intent to support women’s participation in the workforce.

On paper, they promise protection, equality, even empowerment. But in practice, the story is far more complex. These laws often fail to address the everyday realities of women workers. In some cases, they even create unintended barriers- like employers hesitating to hire women to avoid the ‘cost’ of compliance.

The structural barriers run deep. Workplaces are often unsafe. Gendered expectations around caregiving remain rigid. And critically, more than 90% of working women in India are in the informal sector –employed without contracts, protections, or pathways to redress. For them, legal safeguards are more myth than reality. Now, with Karnataka approving one day of paid menstrual leave per month for women in the workforce, the headline might read like progress- but it also raises a deeper question: does this new law open a door, or erect yet another threshold that women must justify crossing.

A short global history of period leave

Japan was the first country to legalise period leave by introducing a statute back in 1947, which mandates employers to grant women employees leave as and when requested during their menstrual cycle. This welcome step within the legal frameworks of organisations was followed by Indonesia, where female workers who experience pain are required to inform their employer and are entitled to not report to office on the first two days of their menstruation, and South Korea provides one day paid leave per month accorded to female employees in case they make a special request during their period.

Taiwan allows three paid leaves in a year owing to menstruation and any leave exceeding beyond that gets deducted from available sick leaves. These leaves are availed at half the rate of such employees’ salary(link). Zambia permits one day paid leave each month without having to produce any valid medical certificate. Spain was the first European nation to introduce menstrual leave as part of its legal regime; wherein female employees can avail 3 to 5 days’ leave due to menstrual pain on production of a doctor’s note and the State social security backing the same.

In India, a southern state Karnataka has taken the lead in covering both the government and private sector in its menstrual leave policy. Earlier, two eastern states, Bihar and Odisha, already have a policy for government employees. Another southern state, Kerala has implemented this policy in its universities for staff and students.

A step forward, but who gets to walk?

Karnataka's decision to introduce menstrual leave is a landmark one, one that acknowledges a long-ignored reality of women’s health in the workplace. For many, it feels like a long-overdue gesture of respect and dignity. But beneath the celebratory headlines lies an uncomfortable question: whose workplaces are actually being reformed?

For vast majority of women, this policy is little more than a footnote. These women power the country’s vast informal economy: they farm the land they don’t own, roll bidis in backyards, stitch clothes in sweatshops, sell vegetables on sidewalks, clean homes in urban high-rises. They carry the dual burden of paid and unpaid labour, often without recognition, protection or compensation. For them, “menstrual leave” isn’t just a missing benefit; it’s not even a conversation.

These women are invisible in boardrooms, in budget speeches, and in GDP tallies. So, when a state like Karnataka rolls out workplace reform aimed at menstrual health, it risks reinforcing the divide between the formally employed minority and the informally employed majority. A policy meant to empower women could inadvertently deepen the exclusion of those who need it most.

As economist Ravi Kumar pointed out in his article, the long-term impact of menstrual leave hinges not just on policy design, but on whom the policy chooses to include. If we are serious about gender issue, the conversation must extend beyond government offices and corporate campuses to the frontline of India’s informal economy – where the bulk of women actually work.

Karnataka’s move is laudable. But it is just that – a step. For it to become a march toward equity, the state must reckon with the lived realities of informal women workers, who are vital to the economy but remain excluded from its protections.

While the policy promises universal sectoral coverage, this assurance collapses under the weight of India’s highly informal labour market. As mentioned earlier, majority of women are in the unregulated sectors like garment industry, construction sites, streets, households, et al and enforcement mechanisms in these sectors are notoriously weak. Most of these workers fall outside the scope of labour regulation and demands structural imagination, given their precarious work environment.

Recognising the invisible backbone

To truly empower women in the Indian workforce, it is imperative to bring the informal sector, where most women are employed, into the centre of policy, protection and progress. Instead of waiting indefinitely for the benefits to trickle down to the underrepresented, it truly will be a mark of solidarity when we include every single working woman in conversations pertaining to fundamentals of health and hygiene.

Women who form the backbone of agriculture, domestic work, caregiving, street vending and countless other unregulated occupations, often operate without any contracts, job security, social protection, or recognition. Bridging this gap requires not only extending the reach of existing labour laws and welfare schemes but also reimagining systems that currently exclude informal workers from institutional support. Women’s Rights Activist Brinda Adige, while praising the initiative, expressed concern for the challenges faced by informal sector.

The motives of all landmark policies and laws should be to lessen the already existing deep divides between a country’s populace. Absence of contracts and functioning beyond the realms of legal frameworks puts almost all of these women at risk and exposed to vulnerabilities. It further limits their abilities to gain skills needed for formal employment.

From access to childcare and healthcare, to skill development and financial inclusion, the needs of informal women workers must be addressed with urgency and empathy. Only then can we move beyond symbolic empowerment or empowerment of the select few and ensure that every working woman –regardless of her sector – has the dignity, security, and opportunity she rightfully deserves.

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