Period Leave and the Death of Feminism

Once upon a time, women were placed on a pedestal, considered the weaker sex and not just physically, which they on average are, but emotionally, mentally and intellectually too. Then came feminism. the First wave sought to stop the “protection” by the concerned men of women from the dirty, dirty politics associated with voting. Some really interesting arguments were advanced: “Because Woman Suffrage is based on the idea of the equality of the sexes, and tends to establish those competitive relations which will destroy chivalrous consideration.” or “ Because the physical nature of women unfits them for direct competition with men.”

The crux of these arguments was basically that women are not fit to compete with men because of the “physical nature”, a basic reference to on weaker bodies, monthly periods and child-bearing by women. Thus, this supposedly made us unfit for voting.

The feminists replied no, women are just as capable as men of doing things. We are not tender, brittle butterflies who require extra care and protection. We are strong and tough, capable of achieving everything that men can. And we won. Because at the end of the day we did not consider ourselves unequal to men and proved ourselves in both the World Wars as fit for handling any challenges that men can and thus, worthy of equal rights.

Similar arguments were advanced against the fight for equal pay. The other side argued that women were not as capable of working as much as men were and thus were deserving of less pay or having equal opportunities. Take this for an example: “In the 1970s, sex differences were used to argue that women should not become airline pilots since they will be hormonally unstable once a month and, therefore, unable to perform their duties as well as me”. Such arguments were common.

We argued that no, if were working as much as men were, we deserved equal pay. We denied the concept of biological determinism or “the view that biology is destiny”. We said that despite all the biological differences, we were capable of performing the job and that the sex does not determine who does good job or has any effect on work.

Fast forward to 21st century when feminism has come full circle. Today, women become incapable of working on the first day of period. Their sex not only effects their work but renders them incapable of it and should entitle them to special privileges, like more holidays than men. Today, women are weak and need protection and care. Or at least that is what First Day of Period Leave implies.

You can’t be a real feminist and support this. 12 days of extra leaves given to a gender is a privilege. And as far as I know it, feminists oppose privileges based on gender or sex. They oppose coddling, pedestalizing and infantilizing of women. They deny that women are incapable of competing with men because of their “physical nature”.

I whole-heartedly support Barkha Dutt in this matter. Arguing that women have different biology and require more amount of holidays will backfire spectacularly. Why would an HR of a company hire a person who he or she will be obliged to give more amount of leaves but equal pay? They would have to be extra-ordinary to compensate for what would be more pay for less work.

They argue that women did not chose to have periods or period pain. Well, taking a day off is your choice. And then deducting for that should be your employer’s choice. They also argue that women already get less pay. Well, that is because among other factors, they are deemed as less capable of work and less deserving of salary equal pay. You’re just proving them right.

We had demanded “equal pay for equal work” some time back. Today, some women are demanding “equal pay for less work”. They are the antithesis of feminism and let me make it clear, they do not represent me. I will oppose them just like I oppose the army leaders who say women are unfit for infantry because of their gender, instead of judging every case on individual cases.

The one good thing that may come out of this can be that there will be more open discussion on periods instead of whispers in the corners of washrooms. But that, sadly, would be the only good thing.