From Stigma to Support: Exploring Perceptions of Menstrual Leave Policies in European Workplaces

Menstrual leave is an emerging reproductive health organisational policy gaining attention in Europe but research remains limited. Drawing on 45 semi-structured interviews with menstruating and non-menstruating workers, we applied thematic analysis to explore workplace perceptions of menstruation and menstrual leave policies (MLPs). We found that menstruation was widely positioned as taboo in the workplace, with participants both experiencing and anticipating stigma. Menstruating was associated with incompetence, emotional instability, and unprofessionalism – as contradictory to ideal worker norms and expectations. Although participants could identify and acknowledge potential benefits of MLPs, they also expressed reluctance and even women participants felt reticent. In particular, women participants would refrain from using them and were concerned about misuse. Our research contributes to work and organisational psychology by highlighting how ideal worker norms fuel menstrual stigma which in turn enables the stigmatisation of menstrual leave policies. Interventions that align with diffusion of innovations theory could increase awareness of menstruation and decrease menstrual stigma in the workplace to prepare workplaces before implementing menstrual leave policies.