In a significant move against fighting the taboo related to menstruation, Zomato introduces a 10-day “period leave” for its employees. This milestone decision will help foster truth and acceptance, said Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal. According to the company, Each woman employee in the company can now take 1-period leave for each menstrual cycle.
In a released statement on Saturday, Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said: “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.”
He urged anyone who experienced “unnecessary harassment” or “distasteful comments” for taking period leave to speak up, and told male colleagues it “shouldn’t be uncomfortable for us.”
“This is a part of life, and while we don’t fully understand what women go through, we need to trust them when they say they need to rest this out,” Goyal said. “I know that menstrual cramps are very painful for a lot of women — and we have to support them through it if we want to build a truly collaborative culture at Zomato.”
Zomato announces “Period Leave”
Going forward, women at Zomato can avail up to 10 period leaves in a year. This also applies to transgender people working at Zomato.?♀️
Read more here – https://t.co/GmP5rLkaNL pic.twitter.com/5f8z9xP5zk
— Zomato (@Zomato) August 8, 2020
However, the company also stressed not to abuse these leaves to take time out or procrastinate office tasks. Zomato is currently India’s biggest food delivery business. Earlier this year they also bought Uber’s food business in the country.
Reactions
For women who have crippling period pain on multiple cycle days, (I am one of them) and have to come up with excuses such as fever to get a day's rest, it would be nice for once to have the choice to decide for ourselves if we want a period leave if the option's there.
— Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai) August 9, 2020
Zomato to grant 10 days of period leaves for female and Trans employees. Surely a great sensitive move to be more friendly environment. Other firms shall also bring such change to work culture.
— A Bear (@patauIi) August 8, 2020
This is amazing.? I hope all other companies follow their lead.
Also, to be fair to the opposite gender, they should give equivalent amount of leaves to take care of their spouse during period days or probably take care of themselves when they're feeling low.@Zomato https://t.co/XSPSSTjBpw— Rajat (@rajat0807) August 9, 2020
Despite multiple awareness campaigns across the country, menstruation remains a taboo in many Indian homes. There are a significant amount of households that consider women during menstruation as impure or dirty. The social stigma attached to periods can be damaging and leaves young girls clueless about safe and hygienic practices.
There have been incidents of introducing period leave in the country before. Bihar being one of the most densely populated states allows women to take two days of leave each month because of “biological reason”.
Despite disagreements, social media is hailing this decision by Zomato for its gender sensitivity and inclusiveness. It remains to be seen if other multinational companies will follow in Zomato’s footsteps.
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