New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday turned down a petition seeking mandatory menstrual leave for working women and female students, warning that such a law would push employers to simply stop hiring women.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi refused to admit the plea and didn’t mince words about why.
“The moment you say compulsory in law, nobody will give them jobs, nobody will take them in judiciary or government jobs, their career is over they will say you should sit at home after informing everyone,” the CJI said, as quoted by LiveLaw.
He went on: “You don’t know the mindset of employers. They will not hire women if we make such a law.”
The court drew a clear line between awareness and legislation. Voluntarily offering menstrual leave? Fine the bench called it “excellent” if private companies chose to do so. Making it a legal requirement? That’s where the trouble starts.
The Chief Justice also raised a concern that doesn’t come up often in these debates: what such a law would do to how women are perceived at work. “Such a law would also create a psychological fear or impression among working women that they are less than men,” he said. Worse, he warned it could invite employers to treat menstruation as something shameful a reason to call women “inferior.”
The bench asked the petitioner to instead think about pushing employers toward more paid leave generally, and said the competent authority could look at framing a menstrual leave policy after consulting relevant stakeholders.
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The petition, reportedly filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi, had pointed out that Kerala has already introduced menstrual leave relaxations in schools, and that some private companies have extended similar benefits to their women employees on their own.