Five Indian Companies That Give Period Leave To Employees

A staff member of Zomato on August 8, 2020, posted an internal email from founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal that said the Indian food delivery company will give employees who bleed 10 days of “period leave” a year, an announcement that has started a debate around the need for menstrual days off at the workplace and what the gesture means for menstruators.

“At Zomato, we want to foster a culture of trust, truth and acceptance. There shouldn’t be any shame or stigma attached to applying for a period leave. You should feel free to tell people on internal groups, or emails that you are on your period leave for the day,” Goyal said in his email.

Period leave is neither new, not novel. The state of Bihar have had two extra days of casual leave for women government employees since 1992. Many countries around the world —  Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and Zambia — give women period leaves as well. The National Family Health Survey of 2015-2016 found that of the 336 million menstruating women in India, about 121 million using sanitary napkins. The taboo around periods is adds to the discrimination menstruators assigned female at birth face. In 2018, Ninong Ering, a former Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh had introduced the Menstruation Benefits Bill 2017 in Lok Sabha.

Here are five Indian companies that have Period Leave for their employees:

1. Kolkata-Based Digital Media Company FlyMyBiz:

2. Mumbai-Based Digital Media Startup Culture Machine Media Pvt. Ltd:

5. Bengaluru-Based Startup Horses Stable News:

4. Independent Digital Agency Specializing In Brand Reputation Management, Gozoop Online Pvt Ltd:

3. Food Delivery Service Zomato: