Women shouldn't make menstruation an excuse to take leave from work, feels PadMan producer Twinkle Khanna, who was recently in Delhi to promote the movie.
"I was a part of a show where in a lady said she runs more when she is on her period, so that no one can tell her to sit at home because she is weak," Khanna, whose husband Akshay Kumar stars as the lead in PadMan told IANS, adding, "A lot of people think women should stay at women, so why give them an excuse to stop women from doing anything. If there is too much pain, then one can take an off just like they do for any other sickness like a stomach ache. Women should not make period a reason to take a leave."
PadMan is based on a Khanna's book, The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, which is inspired from the story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, the inventor of low-cost sanitary pads in India.
Khanna hopes to eradicate India's menstruation taboos with PadMan, which will hit screens this Friday.
In 2017, two Indian companies -- Culture Machine and Gozoop -- made headlines when they announced they were giving their female staff a paid day off during their periods.
In a first, Ninong Ering, a member of parliament from Arunachal Pradesh, tabled a private members’ bill entitled the Menstruation Benefit Bill in the Lok Sabha last month. Ering, a member of the Indian National Congress, proposed paid leave for all working women in India every month.
The bill has also proposed better facilities for rest at the workplace for menstruating women.
For most women, menstruation is a painful process that's often accompanied by nausea, stomach cramps and dizziness. As per a Women's National Health Service Foundation Trust report, period pain can be severe enough to interfere with daily activities in up to 20 percent women.
Several countries around the world such as Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, have in place paid menstruation leave for female workers.
