This is an unprecedented measure in Europe.

The Spanish deputies adopted this Thursday, in first reading, a bill creating a “menstrual leave” for women suffering from painful periods.

The left-wing government has explained that it wants to break a taboo in this way.

This bill - adopted with 190 votes in favor, 154 against and 5 abstentions - also strengthens access to abortion in public hospitals, a right that remains strewn with pitfalls in this country with a strong Catholic tradition.

The text will now have to be voted on by the Senate and return to the Chamber of Deputies, if ever it was modified during its passage through the upper house, before becoming law.

“We fight stigma and silence”

“This legislature is a legislature of feminist conquests”, welcomed, before the deputies, the Minister for Equality, Irene Montero, of the radical left party Podemos, ally of the Socialists of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in the government.

“We recognize menstrual health as part of the right to health and we fight stigma and silence,” she added.

If Irene Montero had indicated in the spring that the sick leave, which doctors could grant to women suffering from painful periods, "would not have a time limit", no details are included in the bill on this subject.


Hoy la mayoría feminista del Congreso da el primer paso para la approbación definitiva de la nueva ley del aborto que reconoce nuevos derechos sexuales y reproductives, comme la salud menstrual, y garantieza la interrupción voluntaria de l'embarazo para TODAS las mujeres ✊💚

— Irene Montero (@IreneMontero) December 15, 2022

Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

I ACCEPT

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.



A controversial measure

When this text is definitively adopted, Spain will become the first country in Europe and one of the few in the world to integrate this measure into its legislation, like in particular Japan, Indonesia or Zambia.

This "leave", however, aroused reluctance within the socialist wing of the government and was criticized by the UGT union.

This central union, one of the two largest in the country, is concerned about a possible brake on the hiring of women by employers wanting to avoid these absences.

This law "will cause an opposite effect for women" resulting in "marginalization, stigmatization" and "negative consequences on the labor market", denounced the right-wing opposition of the Popular Party (PP) by the voice of the deputy Marta Gonzalez Vazquez.

Strengthen access to abortion

This "menstrual leave" is one of the flagship measures of a much broader bill that also plans to strengthen access to abortion in public hospitals, which perform less than 15% of abortions in the country due to in particular a massive conscientious objection from doctors.

Abortion was decriminalized in Spain in 1985 then legalized in 2010, but it remains a right strewn with pitfalls in this country of Catholic tradition.

Currently, women have to travel hundreds of kilometers to have an abortion in certain areas due to the lack of public services and the absence of a specialized clinic nearby.

This text must also allow minors to abort without the authorization of their parents at 16 and 17 years old by reversing an obligation introduced by a previous Conservative government in 2015.



Spain, an example of women's rights

This bill also provides for a strengthening of sex education in schools as well as the free distribution of contraceptives or menstrual hygiene products in high schools.

Spain is a country considered as a benchmark in terms of women's rights in Europe, particularly since the adoption in 2004 of a law on gender violence.

Claiming to be feminist, the Sanchez government has more women than men.

Paris

Hauts-de-Seine: Free menstrual panties distributed to schoolgirls with valuable advice

Sport

Is the menstrual cycle finally taken into account in the race for high-level performance?

  • Spain

  • Leave

  • World

  • Womens rights

  • Use