Malayalam news channel Matrubhumi implements period leave

Malayalam media giant, Mathrubhumi has now decided to announce 'First Day of Period' leave for its employees. Earlier this month, Mumbai based digital media company Culture Machine had announced the 'First Day of Period' leave policy.

The leave policy will come into place immediately. The company's Joint Managing Director MV Shreyams Kumar was quoted as saying that the additional leave will be granted to its women employees which will "not be counted under sick leave or casual leave". As many as 75 out of the 320 employees with Matrubhumi channel are women. The policy that is implemented only in Mathrubhumi TV will soon be extended to online and print verticals as well.

"When this other firm came forward with the idea, we felt that it was a very good and practical practice to adopt. And so the decision was taken. 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," the MD said

Culture Machine started a petition to implement the "First day of period leave" policy across all companies in the country. They have also started an online petition which has garnered around 28k supporters till now.

The period leave is granted to female employees in Japan, South Korea and Indonesia but is a fairly new concept for India. Many women have mixed feelings about the issue.

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