2 days of monthly menstrual leave for women eyed

The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, approved on first reading a proposed ordinance granting two days monthly menstrual leave with fifty percent daily remuneration to all female employees in the private and public sectors in the city.

Under the proposed ordinance, it aims to safeguard and advance the health rights of women workers in the city while acknowledging their role in nation building and ensuring gender equality.

Further, it also seeks to ensure that working women are provided with safe and healthy working conditions, taking into account their maternal functions, and are given access to facilities and opportunities that will improve their well being and enable them to reach their full potential in serving the city.

The ordinance stated that all female employees, private and public, in the city, except pregnant and menopausal women shall be entitled to a monthly menstruation leave of up to two days with pay equivalent to at least fifty percent of their basic salaries and wages, provided that, she has rendered at least six months of service whether continuous or broken at the time of the effectivity of the proposed measure.

However, employers already granting a menstruation leave or its equivalent are not covered by the proposed ordinance.

The ordinance added that it is guaranteed to those who make use of the proposal and that as a result, their adoption of the said choice cannot be the reason for a job downgrade or termination. It is permissible to reassign or transfer employees to a different organizational unit within the same agency or private company, as long as there is no reduction in rank, status, or pay or other circumstances that would constitute constructive dismissal, less fifty percent of her daily pay.

For avoiding the benefits outlined in the proposed ordinance, no employer, public or private, may discriminate against women in the workplace.

The ordinance stipulated that it cannot be interpreted to lessen benefits that are granted by any relevant law, rule, decree, or contract, agreement or policy that governs the relationship between an employer and an employee.

The ordinance tasked the local chief executive, through the City Legal Office, and Sangguniang Kabataan Federation (SKF) president with the approval of the body, to formulate the implementing rules and regulations for better implementation of the proposed measure.

Based on the data obtained from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the city’s population comprises 51.3 percent females and 49.7 percent males making the majority of the work force which are females.

Section 14, Article 13 of the 1987 Constitution provided that the State shall protect working women by providing safe and healthful working conditions, taking into account their maternal functions, and such facilities and opportunities that will enhance their welfare and enable them to realize their full potential in the service of the nation.

Moreover, Section 17 of Republic Act 9710 or the Magna Carta for Women stated that the State shall, at all times, provide for a comprehensive, culture-sensitive and gender respective health services and programs covering all stages of a woman’s life cycle and which addresses the major causes of women’s mortality and morbidity.

In a research conducted by the National Library of Medicine in the United States, it reported a moderate to severe negative impact of menstruation to women on their concentration 77.2 percent, energy levels, 89.3 percent, efficiency 68.3 percent, interest in their own work 71.6 percent, and mood 86.9 percent. – Dexter A. See