Recently, food delivery firm Zomato drew a lot of appreciation after it introduced a paid period leave policy. The company’s founder and chief executive officer, Deepinder Goyal, said in a statement to his employees: “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.”
Commenting on this decision journalist Barkha Dutt tweeted, "Sorry Zomato, as woke as your decision on #PeriodLeave is, this is exactly what ghettoizes women and strengthens biological determinism. We cannot want to join the infantry, report war, fly fighter jets, go into space, want no exceptionalism and want period leave. PLEASE.
Dutt further said that she will not change her stance.
However, from Twinkle Khanna to others on Twitter, strong objections were raised on Dutt's remarks. Emphasizing on the fact that men and women are 'equal but not identical', Twinkle put up a post on Instagram in favour of period leaves.
Shehla Rashid tweeted, "Appreciate @BDUTT for the strong woman that she has been. On the issue of period leave though, my 2¢: 1) Not every woman's experience is the same. Some women really suffer during periods 2) Women's experience of pain has traditionally been downplayed, assumed to be exaggerated".
Here's what others have to say:
Speaking about the issue, some women feel that period leaves are a way of normalizing the talks.
Some others also pointed out that going by Dutt's logic maternity leaves should also be done away with.
Some people, including MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, agreed with Barkha Dutt, saying that period leaves take women back to the stone ages.
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