India's Supreme Court just shut down a push for nationwide menstrual leave, warning it could backfire on the very women it's meant to help. A two-judge bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant rejected a petition seeking a law that would grant working women and female students monthly time off for periods, saying mandatory leave could make employers reluctant to hire women and signal that they are "not at par" with male colleagues. The court suggested such a move might reinforce stereotypes and harm women's professional growth rather than support it, reports the BBC.
"These pleas are made to create fear, to call women inferior—that menstruation is something bad happening to them," wrote the court, per the Times of India. "This is projected as an affirmative right. But one must also think about the employer who has to grant the paid leave." Petitioner Shailendra Mani Tripathi had asked for a policy that would allow two to three days of leave for menstrual discomfort. The judges declined to issue such a directive but said the federal government could explore a menstrual leave framework in consultation with "all stakeholders," according to legal outlet LiveLaw.
The decision drops fresh fuel on a long-running debate in India, where menstruation remains stigmatized and access to leave over it is patchy. A few states already offer limited menstrual leave to certain categories of employees, and some major companies have rolled out their own policies. Advocates argue that leave aligns with existing laws on workplace dignity and gender equality and say it can improve health and productivity; critics counter that it risks labeling women as less reliable workers and could deepen, rather than dismantle, bias.
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