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A growing number of employers and politicians are taking the provision of menstrual leave more seriously than ever before. BENGALURU - Ms Francesca Cotta is prone to painful cramps, severe weakness and waves of emotional distress during her periods. The 29-year-old writer, who lives in Goa, would always have to take a day off when the pain became especially bad. This was despite none of her previous workplaces – start-ups and small magazines – offering paid leave for female employees suffering menstrual pain. “If I worked with a woman, I was more likely to say I was having my period. With a male boss, I would say ‘stomach ache’ and they would understand. I have been fortunate that I have never been denied a day off,” said Ms Cotta, who is now self-employed. Sometimes this was off the books, and at other times, she would use her normal leave allotment. “There are times I have blacked out due to a severe lack of energy. It’s not healthy for the organisational expectation to be that all women employees in pain must always suck it up,” she said. But like most Indian women, more often than not, she tolerated the pain on the job because of her own discomfort in bringing it up or worry about missing work deadlines. Changes, though, are afoot, with a growing number of employers and politicians taking the provision of menstrual leave more seriously than ever before. In the past four years, the idea of menstrual leave has gone from being a one-of-a-kind corporate policy by a food delivery app in Bengaluru to featuring prominently in the election manifestos of political parties during recent polls in western India’s Maharashtra state. As women voters become more politically significant and companies and governments want more women in the workforce, that taboo-laden, hush-hush “time of the month” has become a national subject today. Court petitions and parliamentary proposals for menstrual policies have been rejected but are bringing the issue to the forefront. Three state governments mandated menstrual leave in 2023 and two more are seriously considering it. Pandemic review Despite religious and cultural stigmas around menstruation in India, several corporations, big and small, are reviewing their human resource policies to offer time off or flexible work days for their women and transgender employees during menstruation. Since food delivery start-up Zomato first offered 10 days of paid period leave annually in 2020, other companies have also instituted such leave. These include rival food delivery app Swiggy, educational technology firm Byju’s, Malayalam newspaper Mathrubhumi, digital content company Culture Machine, data security company Seclore Technology and Indian electricals manufacturer Orient Electric. Much of this began during the pandemic, when “a lot of companies were generally thinking about employee welfare more than they ever had before, and work-life balance was taken more seriously”, said Ms Aparna Mittal, founder of the Delhi-based Samana Centre, a firm that consults on diversity, equity and inclusion. Menstrual leave allows employees to take time off work when period symptoms like cramps, nausea or dizziness become so painful or uncomfortable that they impede their ability to work. For women with conditions like endometriosis or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), period pain can be debilitating. Non-profit Slam Out Loud, which runs art education programmes in schools in Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru and in villages, reworked its leave policy in 2023 after two women employees with endometriosis and PCOS talked about experiencing unbearable pain during their menstrual cycles. “Women should not have to use their sick or casual leave for their menstrual days, something all of us experience. They end up not having any leave left for vacations, festivals or actual sickness,” said Slam Out Loud’s co-founder, Ms Mridula Reddy, 30. The organisation now offers its 45 staff one day a month as optional menstrual leave. Mr Thomas Zacharias, 38, a chef who established The Locavore, a food-based storytelling and event company in Kochi, offers one or two days of menstrual leave every month to his 40 employees. He said that “changing deadlines to accommodate a colleague’s overall wellness does not make a big difference to productivity” and instead creates a healthy workplace with invested workers. Sure but slow uptake However, as only a fraction of organisations are forward-thinking on the matter, labour experts say governments should make policies to compel companies to offer such leave. Some experts said a government mandate could help end employers’ last-mile reluctance, especially in manufacturing, retail and sales sectors, which are conventionally lax in adopting labour-friendly practices. Japan has established menstrual leave as a labour right since 1947. Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and Zambia also have menstrual leave. The designs vary, with some offering three days off every year, an optional day a month, flexible arrangements like remote work, or longer breaks during the workday for a few days a month. In India, politicians who have dismissed it include former women and child development minister Smriti Irani, who asked in 2023: “Why should a woman’s menstrual cycle be known to her employer?” Four attempts by MPs in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 to introduce menstrual benefit laws failed to even be approved for discussion in Parliament. In January, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition to make menstrual leave mandatory at the workplace, saying that it would “lead to women being shunned from the workforce”, although there is no evidence that this would happen. “In no instance has it ever been reported that a menstrual leave policy prevents employers from hiring women,” wrote sociologist Manjima Bhattacharjya, the author of Intimate Cities, in The Indian Express newspaper, making a case for menstrual policies because they create healthier, more equal workplaces. But even as the national government dithers, state governments are blazing the trail in mandating menstrual leave – in response to and in encouragement of women’s participation in the workforce, which has nearly doubled from 22 per cent in 2017 to 40.3 per cent in 2023. Odisha state in the east announced one day’s leave a month in November. In 2023, the southern state of Kerala granted a 2 per cent relaxation in attendance for menstrual issues to female students in all universities and institutions. Karnataka, also in the south, is finalising a policy under which women get six days of paid menstrual leave every year. The northern state of Bihar has given two days of menstrual leave since 1992, even though women made up a small portion of the working staff at the time. The law emerged from a set of demands made by striking public sector employees, among them women teachers, nurses and clerks, who asked for menstrual leave as well as toilets and creches. Mrs Sangita Kumar, 65, a retired government school teacher in Patna, said the right to take menstrual leave “gave me a lot of relief” through most of her three-decade-long career. “At first, we teachers called it ‘natural leave’ in the letter to the headmistress, and later settled on ‘special leave’. Given a little moment to rest, I became more productive when I returned to work,” said Mrs Kumar, who found it useful even during her menopause. To male colleagues “joking” about women being perpetually on leave, she would say “it’s government policy, it is legal”. She added: “Just like we women do on so many occasions, I ignored the taunts till they stopped.” An official in the Bihar government’s social welfare department told The Straits Times that the progressive legislation was “perhaps too ahead of its time”, because many professors initially felt “shy and awkward” to ask for menstrual leave. But “these days, it has become quite routine in government offices, with some women applying for it and others saying they don’t need it”, he said, under the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. Lingering euphemisms Without the backing of a law, companies that do offer menstrual leave often use workarounds to address the stigma or complaints about unfairness from some sections. This helps their female employees take the needed time off work without undue scrutiny. Many call it “wellness leave”, 12 to 15 days of paid days off in addition to sick and casual leave, which staff can also take to attend to mental health needs, said Ms Mittal of Samana Centre. They also have “manager sensitisation” training to “prevent supervisors from making comments or rolling their eyes”. A senior manager at technology company IBM said that while menstrual leave is “not categorised as such”, he has “the flexibility to grant unlimited casual leave in pockets of one day at a time” to his subordinates based on trust. “I have had multiple employees use that option when they’ve had particularly intense menstrual periods in a given month,” said the IBM manager, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. Some employees tell him the reason openly while others use codes such as “feeling under the weather”. Though change is painstakingly slow, workplaces are heading in the right direction, both in offering period leave and finding ways to reduce the stigma for women. Two employees from a major public sector manufacturer that employs over 7,700 people told ST that since 2023, it has offered an option to work from home for two reasons: menstruation or caregiving. Employees select one option in the employee management system. “Initially, I didn’t want my (manager) to know when I was on my period, but after I worked from home a few times, I am over my embarrassment. So are the managers,” said an employee of the conglomerate who is in her 30s. “It’s no big deal now,” she added. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you. Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards Spin the wheel now
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Stronger privacy protections will be put in place to protect the identities of Australians online when a world-first teen social media plan is legislated, as the Coalition works to soothe backbench worries about over-regulation of the internet. Peter Dutton is determined to work with Labor this week to secure passage of the bill banning children under 16 from social media sites, but a growing number of backbenchers including former LNP ministers Keith Pitt and Matt Canavan and MP Garth Hamilton have been expressing concerns about handing over identifying documents to tech giants. LNP senator Matt Canavan. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen In parliament on Monday, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said she welcomed opposition MPs’ assessment of the bill and Labor sources said they were open to good faith amendments from Coalition communications spokesman David Coleman, who first floated the ban in an interview with this masthead in April and who has been working closely with Labor in recent weeks. Labor has played down the prospect of a digital ID but Coalition MPs were told in a joint party room meeting that amendments would be made to the bill to explicitly rule out the use of a digital ID and documents such as passports. Several Coalition MPs in the Canberra party room meeting, speaking anonymously to disclose confidential discussions, confirmed the Coalition had been working on stronger privacy protections with Labor. MPs including leading moderate Bridget Archer, shadow assistant minister Paul Scarr and Canavan expressed concern in the meeting about rushing the bill. This masthead revealed earlier on Monday that a growing number of Coalition MPs were uneasy with Dutton’s intention to go along with Labor’s bill, which many experts, the Greens and teals have described as rushed. MPs were only given three hours to scrutinise the bill in a condensed inquiry on Monday. Experts who appeared at the inquiry were mixed in their views on the extent of social disharmony and mental ill health caused by teens’ use of social media. Leaders of mental health group Headspace said being online affected how teens felt about themselves but the communities they found on digital platforms were also invaluable. Clinical psychologist Danielle Einstein, whose research is in the intersection between technology use and mental health, said the few studies used by social media advocates were flawed, outdated and being used to make disingenuous claims. Schools were becoming more hostile places as teens took the easier option of making connections online and shunning real-world interactions, she added. “I don’t think the evidence actually shows benefit when you look really carefully,” she said. LNP senator Matt Canavan asked a representative for Meta and other social platforms, DIGI’s Sunita Bose, whether Australians could get around the laws by using a VPN to make it appear they were in another country. Bose said this was “certainly” a risk. “I reckon my 10-year-old could figure it out,” Canavan said. “It’s great we are rushing this.” Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter .PUP holds 1st student-industry conference
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The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had conferred a Presidential Charter on The Ensign Global College, has received a Presidential Charter making it s fully fledged university to offer its own degrees, diplomas and certificates. Now known as the Ensign Global University, the university college established in 2014, for the nearly eight was was affiliated with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) , Kumasi. The President , Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo- Addo who conferred the Presidential Charter on the private tertiary institution at a ceremony in Accra on Thursday underscored his government’s commitment to academic excellence, innovation and nation-building. The President of the University , Professor Stephen C Adler sharing his joy over the achievement of the academic milestone, expressed gratitude to President Akufo-Addo and reiterated the College’s vision to be a world-class academic institution, built upon a foundation of excellence in public health and service, that promotes prosperity and growth in Africa. “The awarding of a Presidential Charter to Ensign Global College ushers in a new era of growth and impact for our beloved institution. “We aim to use this newly acquired status as an independent private institution of higher education to extend our impact solving the great challenges facing Ghana, Africa and the world. We are now poised to extend our reach by expanding our work in public health while we introduce new programmatic areas to respond to the needs essential to achieving prosperity. We will do this through graduates who are highly competent and innovative leaders, research and knowledge curation that leads to groundbreaking solutions, and engaged service with people, communities, and institutions around the world, “ he said. Prof Adler said as part of its new initiatives, Ensign Global University will be launching new health and safety programmes aimed at addressing emerging threats, particularly those caused by environmental degradation. Additionally, the President of the Ensign Global university was committed to tackling human trafficking as a public health issue and will facilitate the Master of Business Creation programme, run by the University of Utah in the United States. According to him, Ensign was a private, not-for-profit, non-sectarian tertiary institution located in Kpong in the Eastern Region of the country renowned for training global leaders in public health with innovative academic programmes that addresses rapidly evolving health challenges in Ghana. The university was currently running a Master of Public Health (MPH) programme accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) with its MPH Programme also accredited by the US-based and globally recognised Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). The College was established by Dr. Lynnette and Bob Gay in 2014 out of their desire and passion to transform public health education in West Africa. For the past 10 years, it has worked towards transforming public health education in Ghana through its public health professional training and initiatives such as the Health2Go project, Centre for Global Surgery and Centre for Medical Innovation. It also recently inaugurated a newly completed Centre for Leadership, Innovation, and Prosperity (CLIP). BY TIMES REPORTER
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RICHMOND — With speeding and sideshows occupying intersections still a persistent issue in Richmond, councilmembers are set to consider directing staff to urgently identify measures to bring safety to city streets. An that would abate speeding and donuts in at least six areas throughout the city in an effort to address a serious public safety risk that’s resulted in property damage, injuries and death in the last year alone. “I’d venture to say that no city street is safe,” said Richmond Police Capt. Matt Stonebraker during a monthly crime prevention meeting focused on sideshows held on Oct. 23. The staff report for the item, brought forward by Councilmember Cesar Zepeda, did not specify which six locations should be studied but Canal Boulevard was called out as a specific area of concern. In mid-October, and her 11-year-old sister injured in a speeding accident on the 600 block of Canal Boulevard. just weeks ago in response to a sideshow with more than 50 vehicles and 200 participants on the same street. Sideshows have also occurred near Hilltop Mall. Participants of a large sideshow in late September damaged multiple cars at nearby auto dealerships and a Richmond Police Department vehicle, the department shared on its social media platforms. The “well organized” unauthorized events, which have grown in size, are occurring nearly every weekend and pull in crowds from outside the region, Stonebraker said. “It’s dangerous not only for the participants, not only for the spectators, but for the community at large and everyone around them or anybody that’s there,” Stonebraker said. “It’s dangerous. We want them to stop and we’re doing everything we can at this point to curb that.” Mayor Eduardo Martinez made his stance on the issue clear in an Oct. 1 Facebook post. Martinez, who has advocated for creating a space where sideshows can occur legally, said he is not in support of and has never encouraged breaking the law. The mayor noted in his post that sideshows — a term he’s wary of using because it does not fully encompass all types of reckless driving and can be used to demonize different parts of the community — are a regional issue. Similarly, Stonebraker said it’s typical for sideshows to travel from San Jose, through the East Bay and San Francisco, up to Sacramento. About 15 sideshows occurred in September alone, an average of about three a week, said Sgt. Enrik Melgoza during the October crime prevention meeting. To address the problem locally, Martinez said the city is working on hiring additional personnel, collaborating with neighboring agencies and deploying Flock cameras that collect vehicle information used to track down suspects. “I am fully committed to ensuring that our city remains safe for all residents, businesses, and visitors,” Martinez said. “These lawless actions do not represent the values of our Richmond residents, and we will do everything in our power to protect our community.” Police spokesperson Lynelle Sanchez said the department is also routinely monitoring for speeding in key corridors like Macdonald Avenue and 23rd Street. Officers issued 17 citations to drivers who failed to yield to pedestrians or were speeding near crosswalks during a recent traffic operation, she said. If the council back’s Zepeda’s request, staff would be directed to return before the end of January 2025 with identified traffic calming measures. Tawfic Halaby, deputy Public Works director of operations and maintenance, said during last month’s crime prevention meeting that the department is reaching out to neighboring jurisdictions to determine what types of measures have been successful. In the meantime, Sanchez encouraged the public to do their part in preventing traffic accidents by driving safely. “We really need the community to come together to make sure everyone stays safe,” Sanchez said. “Everybody’s in a rush trying to get home and feed their kids, but as residents we can do our part to help each other, especially around gatherings of people before and after school.” Zepeda did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Political Turmoil in South Korea: The Push for Impeachment
A suspected Chinese spy with business ties to Prince Andrew is barred from UKProfessor Sean Tweedy used to be a classifier for international paralympic sport. It was his job to determine how an athlete's disability affected their ability to perform their sport. "I'd ask them to do certain activities and they'd say 'look, I'll do as well as I can for you but you've got to know my disability is more severe than this', Prof Tweedy told AAP on Tuesday. "I should be in a class with more severe disabilities, it's only because I've worked so hard that I can do these things." And so began a scientific quest to determine whether performance-driven sport could arrest the motor function decline of disabled athletes. With the support of the University of Queensland, the paraSTART program was created. Prof Tweedy says people with severe disabilities are an under-studied population. So his team selected three people with severe cerebral palsy who had never swum before to participate in a training regime that replicated that of an elite para-athlete. Nate Woolgar was one of those who joined in 2017. "I was very keen to learn to swim because I was actually kind of tired of being anxious around swimming pools," he told AAP. The program included two-to-three weekly swimming sessions, along with strength and conditioning work as well as a diet regime and sleep training. "We were mostly managing drowning risks in the first few weeks, they were genuinely learning to swim, Prof Tweedy said. "It was about six-to-12 months before they would start to do sessions that weren't just about staying afloat - they were able to physically exert themselves."The athletes were asked to stick around for a year, but seven years later they are all still going - with 24 more people joining the training program. "There have been some very challenging times, but there's been no times where I felt that I wanted to stop", Mr Woolgar said. Despite not being able to stand or walk independently, they can all now swim a kilometre. While medium-to-mild cerebral palsy is generally not degenerative, people with severe CP often experience a decline from the age of nine to through to adolescence. But all three athletes in the program defied that typical decline by improving their motor function. Prof Tweedy described the results as "phenomenal". He said he would have been prepared to make the argument that if there wasn't any motor improvement the participants still got a whole lot our of it. "They made friends, they felt good about themselves, they're swimming faster, and they're into a sport that gave them a sense of purpose." Mr Woolgar is one of the cohort's strongest swimmers with a promising future, alongside his swimming mate Jamie Booth who is a national record holder. "My goal for the program right now is to reach the Queensland state times for people in my swimming class, and I'm two seconds off, Mr Woolgar said. Prof Tweedy hopes more funding could see the program expand to help people with severe disabilities who are "not even getting in pool, or to the start line". "The creation of opportunities would start to reduce the likelihood they have never swum before and make champions out of them," he said. It's not about creating elite athletes, but rather giving those often overlooked in the sporting arena a chance to experience the benefits that come with it. "My mental state has definitely improved because of all the exercise I'm doing, Mr Woolgar said. "And in terms of the body, I definitely feel fitter and stronger. So that's just been, overall for my everyday life, it's been really, really good."
A 7-year-old rivalry between tech leaders Elon Musk and Sam Altman over who should run OpenAI and prevent an artificial intelligence "dictatorship" is now heading to a federal judge as Musk seeks to halt the ChatGPT maker's ongoing shift into a for-profit company. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company earlier this year alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits. Musk has since escalated the dispute, adding new claims and asking for a court order that would stop OpenAI’s plans to convert itself into a for-profit business more fully. The world's richest man, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and social media platform X, last year started his own rival AI company, xAI. Musk says it faces unfair competition from OpenAI and its close business partner Microsoft, which has supplied the huge computing resources needed to build AI systems such as ChatGPT. “OpenAI and Microsoft together exploiting Musk’s donations so they can build a for-profit monopoly, one now specifically targeting xAI, is just too much,” says Musk's filing that alleges the companies are violating the terms of Musk’s foundational contributions to the charity. OpenAI is filing a response Friday opposing Musk’s requested order, saying it would cripple OpenAI’s business and mission to the advantage of Musk and his own AI company. A hearing is set for January before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland. At the heart of the dispute is a 2017 internal power struggle at the fledgling startup that led to Altman becoming OpenAI's CEO. Musk also sought to be CEO and in an email outlined a plan where he would “unequivocally have initial control of the company” but said that would be temporary. He grew frustrated after two other OpenAI co-founders said he would hold too much power as a major shareholder and chief executive if the startup succeeded in its goal to achieve better-than-human AI known as artificial general intelligence , or AGI. Musk has long voiced concerns about how advanced forms of AI could threaten humanity. “The current structure provides you with a path where you end up with unilateral absolute control over the AGI," said a 2017 email to Musk from co-founders Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman. “You stated that you don't want to control the final AGI, but during this negotiation, you've shown to us that absolute control is extremely important to you.” In the same email, titled “Honest Thoughts,” Sutskever and Brockman also voiced concerns about Altman's desire to be CEO and whether he was motivated by “political goals.” Altman eventually succeeded in becoming CEO, and has remained so except for a period last year when he was fired and then reinstated days later after the board that ousted him was replaced. OpenAI published the messages Friday in a blog post meant to show its side of the story, particularly Musk's early support for the idea of making OpenAI a for-profit business so it could raise money for the hardware and computer power that AI needs. It was Musk, through his wealth manager Jared Birchall, who first registered “Open Artificial Technologies Technologies, Inc.”, a public benefit corporation, in September 2017. Then came the “Honest Thoughts” email that Musk described as the “final straw.” “Either go do something on your own or continue with OpenAI as a nonprofit,” Musk wrote back. OpenAI said Musk later proposed merging the startup into Tesla before resigning as the co-chair of OpenAI's board in early 2018. Musk didn't immediately respond to emailed requests for comment sent to his companies Friday. Asked about his frayed relationship with Musk at a New York Times conference last week, Altman said he felt “tremendously sad” but also characterized Musk’s legal fight as one about business competition. “He’s a competitor and we’re doing well,” Altman said. He also said at the conference that he is “not that worried” about the Tesla CEO’s influence with President-elect Donald Trump. OpenAI said Friday that Altman plans to make a $1 million personal donation to Trump’s inauguration fund, joining a number of tech companies and executives who are working to improve their relationships with the incoming administration. —————————— The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement allowing OpenAI access to part of the AP’s text archives.