Should Menstrual Leave Be a Workplace Right? This Proposal Says Yes

A leaked proposal from the U.K.'s Green Party is sparking serious debate — and it's not hard to see why.

The policy, submitted by Allan McLeod, a trade union rep for the Darlington Green Party, would give every worker who menstruates three days off per month specifically for menstrual leave. That's 36 days a year — and crucially, those days wouldn't count against sick leave or vacation time. Workers dealing with conditions like endometriosis, adenomyosis, or PCOS could request additional time on top of that. The proposal will go before the Green Party's Autumn Conference in October.

The reaction has been all over the place — which, given the subject matter, probably isn't surprising.

The Case For It

Supporters point to a number that's hard to dismiss. Painful periods and conditions like endometriosis already cost the UK economy an estimated £11 billion per year in absenteeism. People are missing work anyway — they're just doing it without support, often without telling anyone why, and sometimes at the cost of their jobs or career advancement.

Sanchia Alasia, who sits on the board of Endometriosis UK and has the condition herself, told Good Morning Britain the policy could change that dynamic.

"It could be a more organized way and a more supportive way in which people who suffer from these conditions could take the leave without stigma, without fear," she said. "These are chronic pain conditions that can fluctuate from month to month and so we'd want that support to be there."

She also pointed to Spain, where a similar menstrual leave policy is already in place, as evidence the 36-day maximum isn't necessarily what people will use. "People haven't taken the 36 days," she said. "They've taken the time that they've needed."

The Case Against It

Critics aren't sold, and their concerns go in a few different directions.

Journalist Sophie Wilkinson, who has PCOS herself, told Good Morning Britain she thinks UK workers would take the full 36 days — pointing to a cultural tendency to use what's available. She also raised concerns about workplace resentment from colleagues who don't menstruate and employers who may struggle to absorb that much additional unplanned absence.

"There are lots of comments from employers saying, 'We can't handle this,'" Wilkinson said.

She also flagged an inclusivity question buried in the policy's language. The proposal uses the phrase "workers who menstruate" to be gender-inclusive — covering trans men and non-binary people who experience periods. But Wilkinson questioned how practical that framing is in reality. "The idea of a trans man being like, 'Oh, I'm going to take menstrual leave,' just to me, it doesn't quite compute, and I don't know how well thought through this has been. I cannot think of a group less likely to want people to know that they're getting their period."

That's a legitimate tension the proposal hasn't fully resolved — trying to be inclusive while centering a deeply personal and often private experience in a formal workplace policy.

Why This Conversation Is Worth Having Regardless

Whether or not this specific proposal moves forward, the underlying issue it's trying to address is real and largely invisible in most workplace policy conversations. Endometriosis alone affects roughly 1 in 10 people who menstruate — about 1.5 million in the UK — and the average time from first symptoms to diagnosis is still around eight years. People are managing debilitating pain in silence at their desks, calling in sick without explanation, or pushing through in ways that affect their health and their output.

A formal menstrual leave policy isn't the only way to address that — flexible working arrangements, stronger sick leave protections, and better medical support are all part of the picture. But the Green Party proposal does something those quieter solutions don't: it names the problem out loud and puts it on the table as a workplace rights issue rather than a personal one.

Whether the UK is ready for that conversation — or whether this particular version of it is the right approach — will likely be a lively debate come October. 

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