Carrefour gives menstrual leave due to endometriosis in France – 04/19/2023 – Market

Retail group Carrefour announced on Wednesday (19) that it will grant 12 days of absence per year to employees of its French stores who suffer from endometriosis, a disease that affects the lining of the uterus.

The license implemented by the supermarket chain anticipates a debate that is starting to take place in the French National Assembly, where a bill that intends to create a menstrual leave for workers should be presented next month.

To access the monthly leave, women will have to prove the diagnosis of endometriosis.

Carrefour will also give its employees three days of medical leave after a miscarriage and one day off for women undergoing artificial insemination, “at the time of embryo transfer”.

The announced measures will only benefit employees working in France. However, the group’s CEO, Alexandre Bompard, says that the company intends to adapt them to all countries where Carrefour is present. The group should soon announce benefits for its employees in Italy and Spain.

The company currently has 200,000 employees worldwide, according to Bompard. “We are deeply hopeful that this decision will have a contagion effect beyond Carrefour, for other companies to copy,” he said.

Endometriosis is a chronic disease that causes severe pain during menstruation and even fertility problems. It is estimated that the disease affects one in ten women.

Menstrual leave in Europe

In February, Spain was the first European country to pass a law granting menstrual leave to women who suffer from very painful cycles.

In France, a bill expanding women’s rights should be presented in the National Assembly next month. The project provides for a menstrual leave of 14 days a year for women with endometriosis or painful menstrual cycles, explains the deputy ecologist Sandrine Rousseau, one of the people leading the debate.

For Rousseau, the measure taken by a private company as a benefit to its workers shows the progress of the debate, but it is necessary to guarantee leave as a female right.

A survey by the Ifop institute carried out in France in October 2022 found that 66% of women working in France were in favor of creating menstrual leave and 64% would resort to it if the measure were instituted.

With AFP