After Culture Machine, media company Mathrubhumi offers 'first day of period' leave to women employees

Soon after digital media company Culture Machine announced a ‘First Day of Period Leave’ policy for all its women employees, Malayalam media giant Mathrubhumi has decided to follow suit. On Wednesday, Mathrubhumi decided to provide period leave to its women employees, which will come into effect immediately.

#WATCH: Mathrubhumi News grants female employees official leave on the first day of their menstrual period every month pic.twitter.com/6SbulnlRBI

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) July 19, 2017

The News Minute quoted Mathrubhumi’s Joint Managing Director MV Shreyams Kumar as saying that it was after Culture Machine implemented the practice that they decided to do it too. [caption id=“attachment_3758703” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “The first day of period leave will be an additional leave for the women employees and will not be considered as casual leave or sick leave. We took the decision not because any employee asked for it, but felt that it should be granted,” he added. According to Kumar, at least 75 out of the 320 employees are women. Although at present, the provision has only been implemented in Mathrubhumi News, it will soon extend to Mathrubhumi News Online and the newspaper too. Culture Machine has also started an online petition to appeal for a similar leave policy in companies across the country. The petition, has garnered over 28,000 supporters so far. The leave policy was introduced as an attempt to fight taboos associated with periods. “First day is obviously a not-so-comfortable day for most. It’s time we face the reality. This is not an embarrassment. This is part of life,” Devleena S Majumder, president of Culture Machine’s human resources department said in a Facebook video released by them. While the debate rages on over the trend started by Culture Machine, it seems like their policy is influencing other companies as well and bringing a positive change for women employees.