With a vision to create an inclusive environment for women, Paree, ahead of Menstrual Hygiene Day, May 28, has announced period leave for all its female employees. According to Sahil Dharia, CEO and Founder, Paree,
“The goal is to emerge as a brand that women trust and an organisation that upholds the well-being of women. The policy will extend a one-day period leave per month that will allow women the option to either take the day off (paid leave) for factory & sales staff or work from home for corporate employees. This is not a mandatory leave and the choice to avail it is entirely with the employee.”
He further adds that, this move is a progressive step towards keeping it real when it comes to period-related issues like the physical or emotional discomfort that a woman might experience during her periods and how the corporate sector can band together to make workplaces more conducive for their women employees.
In April, Paree launched the campaign #SheFirst #PadsAreEssential (#YehBhiJarooriHai) which dwelled on menstrual hygiene in this pandemic, and also distributed sanitary pads to lower-income families in Delhi and other states. Additionally, to announce the period leave, Paree created a video titled, “Keep It Real #PareePeriodLeave”, capturing different reactions of their employees.
Dharia advocates period leave and says “Women are the nucleus of our socio-economic environment, and their mental and physical health should be an absolute priority. The period leave is a call to action for Paree, as an organisation, in order to initiate a change in thinking across industries and sectors. We want to platform the larger, unspoken issue of menstrual health and hygiene of women at work, and how we as a society need to start taking cognizance of it and start adopting measures to help our women workforce navigate it with ease.”