Should women be offered “period leave”?

Several provinces in China now have laws in place to ensure women can take a day or two a month off work if they suffer from period pain. Events organizer Churan Zheng regularly takes menstrual leave, and says it is an essential option for every woman.

中国部分省份已经出台了相关政策，以保障女性在每月生理期身体不适时能休假一到两天。活动组织人员郑楚然就常常能休生理期假，并表示每名女性都必须享有。

I suffer from severe period pain and every month post a picture on my social media accounts showing a woman tied to an invisible cross with arrows stuck into her stomach. It always get a lot of "likes" because it vividly visualizes what many women suffer during their period.

我忍受着强烈的生理期疼痛，所以每月都会在社交媒体上上传一张乱箭穿腹的照片，显示女性的无形痛苦。由于图片生动形象的体现了女性在生理期的感受，总能引得许多人点赞。

I always get a heavy feeling and stomach cramps the night before my period starts. And when I wake up, the pain that accompanies the menstruation is so unbearable that I always imagine myself grabbing my intestines and tearing them out of my body, or cutting them out with a pair of scissors. I feel like vomiting.

在例假到来的前一夜，我的反应都很强烈，小腹痉挛疼痛，它是如此难以忍受，我会被疼醒，常常幻想我能将肠子揪出来扔出去，或者找一把剪刀剪断它们，甚至恶心想吐。

Ever since I left university and started work I have taken painkillers almost every month but the drugs make me feel tired and sleepy. I need hot water bottles as well in order to battle the pain.

自从我大学毕业踏入职场，几乎每月我都要吃止痛片，但是药片让我感到疲惫、犯困。同时我还需要热水袋来与疼痛作斗争。

It's often difficult during these times for me to concentrate on my work, which makes me curse my gender.

此时我总是很难集中精力去工作，让我恨自己为什么要生为女人。

Fortunately my company – Pride Planning, which works on female rights campaigns – offers female staff one paid day's leave every month. Employees do not need to get doctors' notes, or worry about their salary being deducted for dropping a day's work. In my case, as long as there is no business trip scheduled or important work to be finished, I normally take half a day or a day off. I just stay at home, sleeping after taking painkillers or doing some work in bed.

幸运的是，我就职的公司——“骄傲计划”——是家维护女性权益的公司——每月都会给女员工放一天带薪病假。员工无需提供医嘱，或者担心因一天不上班而被扣薪水。以我本人为例，只要那天没有公务安排，或者没有重要工作待完成，我通常都能休息半天或一天，窝在家里，吃点止痛片就睡过去，或者躺在床上处理一些工作。

Some people think allowing women to take menstrual leave costs the business money, so there is a debate about whether it could discourage companies from hiring women. However, so far as I know, my company – where female employees are in the majority – doesn't suffer significant financial loss despite the fact that almost every woman takes menstrual leave every month, or every other month.

有人认为允许女性休生理期假会使公司成本上升，所以一直有争论说，是否雇用女员工对公司不利。不过，据我所了解，我所在的公司——且大多数都是女员工——并未出现重大的经济损失，尽管每名女员工每月或者隔月都可以生理期假。

Most women experience pain as part of their menstrual monthly cycle.

大多女性在生理期时都会经受痛苦。

Some women can also experience pelvic pain, even when not on their period.

有些女性甚至还患有盆腔疼痛，即使不在生理期也会难受。

Source: BBC