UK Company To Allow Women Take Days Off During Menstrual Period

A British company says its female staffers will now be permitted to take time off when they’re menstruating, and it will not be considered as a regular sick day.

The director of the Bristol-based Coexist, Bex Baxter, said it was a necessary move to counteract taboos and acknowledge the unique physical challenges that some women face ever month.

“We wanted a policy in place which recognizes and allows women to take time for their body’s natural cycle without putting this under the label of illness,” she told the Guardian.

For some women, periods can cause debilitating pain that makes it challenging to go about a day’s work—yet they feel they cannot take sick days each month without being seen as unproductive. But Baxter says she wants to break down that negative association.

“If you work with your natural rhythms, your creativity and intelligence is more fulfilled,” she says. “And that’s got to be good for business.”