PL MP Rosianne Cutajar has called for a national discussion about menstrual leave while delivering her adjournment speech in parliament on Tuesday.

Menstrual leave is leave granted to women who, while having their menstrual cycle, go through a lot of pain because they suffer from certain medical conditions such as endometriosis, ovarian cysts and others, she said.

There are women in Malta with such conditions who experience difficult cycles that prevent them from going through their daily routine, like work or school, she said. There are women who lost their jobs as there isn't enough awareness about this reality, she continued.

When looking at the situation around the world, she said, there was a dearth of legislation that reflected such issues. However, she mentioned a few countries where such an issue had been dealt with on a legislative basis, such as Japan, Taiwan, Zambia.

In Spain, a bill was passed through Parliament she said, and now needs to go through the Senate.

Cutajar quoted the Spanish Minister who pushed the bill in Spain as having said: "We are finally recognising menstrual issues as part of the right to health and a we are fighting the stigma and the silence."

Cutajar said that this topic is so stigmatised that in countries where the law allows women to benefit from this type of leave, "many choose not to take it, as they say they would be stigmatised or lose some work opportunity because of it."

She said that the stigma is so present that, when she spoke to doctors, they told her that they don't write this reason down on the medical certificates of female patients who are truly in pain because of their periods, but instead jot something else down as they know that employers will not understand the nature of the pain the women were feeling.

"I want to raise this discussion to the national level," Cutajar said.

She said that there will be resistance, even from the social partners as a number of questions arise, such as: "how many days would be available for leave? Who will pay for such a system? Will this leave be part of the sick leave that women can take, or will it exist on top of those leave days? How will we ensure that there won't be abuse? Could this right lead to strengthening the gender pay gap?"

Cutajar said that these are all issues that need to be borne in mind when discussing such an initiative.