Go Spain!

There’s so much evil in this world. You know it. I know it. It is almost like we cannot escape it. It is everywhere.

Well, here’s your chance to escape! Let’s talk about something positive in the news.

Washington Post published an article about a month ago in February saying that Spain is giving women paid medical leave a for a few days each month. 

“On Thursday, Spain became the first European country to entitle workers to paid menstrual leave as it passed numerous sexual and reproductive rights laws, including ones expanding abortion and transgender rights.”

Washington Post

Go Spain!

In case anyone is angry about this (a.k.a. certain people who identify as a man and have also never experienced a period), let me break it down for you. Each month women have multiple days in a row where they feel like death. For many women, the pain they experience is unbearable. They cannot stand, cannot walk. They feel nauseous and sometimes even throw up from it. But this is not something that is curable.

Click here for some comedic relief of men trying period simulators. There are lots of funny ones out there. It is pretty entertaining. 

This article gave me some hope because periods, pardon my french, suck. How exciting is it that a government is actually acknowledging that this is a real thing women deal with. Even as a college student I see this play out in a negative way. Many professors ask for a doctor’s note to excuse an absence. I have had a few awkward conversations with male professors about not having a doctor’s note because my period was the reason for missing class. Luckily most of them have been fairly understanding, but I know for a few of my friends, that does not fly with their professors. 

I personally do not have extremely bad periods every time, but sometimes they can be very brutal. I have a job, and on a few occasions my period has been so bad I felt like I could not go. But because I do not want to miss a day of pay, I went. And it was terrible. So many women are not in the position to take sick days from work so they just have to work through the pain as well. 

A common way that women try to lessen the pain of their period is through birth control. Birth control has a slew of other issues to it. It is not a permanent fix, but some people are forced to weigh their options. 

Then there is the option of consistently buying pain medication. Half of the time they do not work well. Heating pads tend to help, but that keeps you in bed or sitting all day. 

It is all a mess honestly. Pain management is key. You just have to deal with it.

But, go Spain! 

This is honestly such a great policy change for women. Naturally, there is some push-back. Some women are afraid it will reinforce negative stereotypes. I can totally understand that concern. From the article though, it seems like periods are becoming more normalized, but of course there will always be someone who wants to ruin that. 

Unfortunately for the United States, this seems like an impossible thing. Although, the article mentioned that some private companies are creating policies for menstrual leave, which is a great step forward. Maybe one day it will become national though, maybe one day. Anyways, enjoy that win for women!