Draft reforms being put forward mean women in Spain will be offered three days of menstrual leave every month.

This is not uncommon in some Asian nations, but it is the first time a country in the West has embraced the idea.

Some may regard it as a triumph for women’s rights and feminism, perhaps even a welcome blast of empathy for the female condition — but, truly, I can’t think of anything more damaging to the long-term prospects of working women.

A lot of progress has been made in workplace equality, but laws such as these will only make it tougher for women to find employment.

For who would want to take the risk and employ a woman if this becomes standard practice?

Women in Spain are set to be offered three days of menstrual leave every month under draft reforms being put forward (stock image)

Women in Spain are set to be offered three days of menstrual leave every month under draft reforms being put forward (stock image)

Women in Spain are set to be offered three days of menstrual leave every month under draft reforms being put forward (stock image)

Maternity leave, menopause leave — and now menstrual leave, too? 

Surely many bosses would be tempted to solve so many potential problems, including staff resentments and regular absences, simply by hiring a bloke instead? 

Job done, in more ways than one.

Meanwhile, women have spent years, decades, literally centuries pleading and then demanding to be treated as equals to men when it comes to jobs and pay, terms and conditions. Only now to decide, ‘oh, hang on, we’re not equal after all’.

In fact, not only are women not equal to men, we need a special raft of dispensations and concessions to compensate for the very things that make us women.

This move towards monthly menstrual respite comes at a time when campaigners are also urging the Government to make flexible working hours the default for women suffering from the effects of the menopause.

A lot of progress has been made in workplace equality, but laws such as these will only make it tougher for women to find employment, Jan Moir writes (stock image)

A lot of progress has been made in workplace equality, but laws such as these will only make it tougher for women to find employment, Jan Moir writes (stock image)

A lot of progress has been made in workplace equality, but laws such as these will only make it tougher for women to find employment, Jan Moir writes (stock image)

A recent report recommended amending the Equality Act 2010 to ensure menopausal women are protected from discrimination and bullying at work. What?

And not only is a woman’s ability to work blighted at both ends of the age spectrum, let’s not forget that in the middle of it all the silly billy might go and get herself pregnant once or twice as well.   And be eligible for a year of statutory maternity leave each time.

None of this makes her unemployable but, at the very least, it must have a negative impact on hiring women and an equally deleterious effect on female careers.

So if anyone is looking for an excuse to deny women equal pay because they don’t work as hard as men — well, look no further, mister. You just hit pay dirt.

You don’t need to tell me that this is all monstrously unfair to women. 

Periods, pregnancy, menopause — this paradigm of pain and discomfort is a factor, to a greater or lesser degree, in all female lives.

The fluids, the aches, the pads, the tampons, the mess, the cramps, the mood swings, the downright annoyance, the uptight aggravations; we’ve all been there.

Bosses could be tempted to solve so many potential problems, including staff resentments and regular absences, simply by hiring a bloke instead, Jan Moir writes (stock image)

Bosses could be tempted to solve so many potential problems, including staff resentments and regular absences, simply by hiring a bloke instead, Jan Moir writes (stock image)

Bosses could be tempted to solve so many potential problems, including staff resentments and regular absences, simply by hiring a bloke instead, Jan Moir writes (stock image)

Factor in the joys and perils of childbirth or the pain of being unable to bear a child — all of this is part of the rotten female lot. 

And then, the icing on the crumbling cake: the hot, dry wind that blows through the autumn of our years, desiccating everything in its path.

From ibuprofen to Vagisil, from pimples to wrinkles, being a woman is no joke.

It is an assault course of hormones and humiliation, but we cope with it because we can and we have to, and also because we are the stronger sex, not the weaker one. Men could never cope, not for five seconds, and we all know that.

This is one reason why so many of us are outraged when someone like Kirrin Medcalf — Stonewall’s ‘trans inclusion’ chief — states: ‘Bodies are not inherently male or female. They are just their bodies.’

There speaks someone who has perhaps never wept with frustration or pain over a hot flush, a birth spasm, mastitis or endometriosis.

I could go on, but monthly menstruation leave? It just seems so wrong. Is there no wriggle room for common sense, or simply taking a sick day now and then if it really does get too much?

Many of us suffer, or suffered from, difficult periods but just had to push on, with ibuprofen and hot water bottles. We had to do our best, like our mothers and grandmothers before us. It wasn’t nice, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

But instead of quiet forbearance, I fear that the modern tendency to celebrate and fetishise victimhood rather than championing strength and resilience is to blame. No good will come of it!

If petty resentments can build up in workplaces over all-too-frequent cigarette or comfort breaks, what will happen if women start taking three extra days off a month, presumably on paid leave?

That places the burden of the extra workload on their colleagues, who would surely become bitter in the end.

Menstrual leave is not a victory for feminism, but a step back into the dark ages of secondary citizenship. 

The empathy is commendable, the sentiment admirable — but anything that regularly removes women from the workplace is problematic for those of us striving for more equality, not less.

Please, don’t let anyone turn us back into helpless weaklings, ready to be felled by a fit of the period vapours. We’re better than that.

Highest-grossing female singer, or just grossest?

Madonna (pictured) has released a trio of 'hideous' digital artworks, all of which feature her naked

Madonna (pictured) has released a trio of 'hideous' digital artworks, all of which feature her naked

Madonna (pictured) has released a trio of ‘hideous’ digital artworks, all of which feature her naked

Madonna has made a triptych of digital artworks with @beeple — who is an artist and not a Teletubby.

Obviously the trio of 3D film clips, which all feature a naked Madonna figure, are hideous. 

The first one, called Mother of Evolution, features a swarm of butterflies emerging from Madonna’s vagina, while Mother of Nature features a tree growing from the same unlikely source. 

Poor old @beeple was tasked with recreating an exact version of the Madge-vadge — presumably from photographs, but with Madonna, you never know.

She will be 64 this year and is the highest-charting female musician and highest-grossing female touring musician in history. 

I love her dearly, but if she doesn’t put it away, she might be remembered only as the grossest.

Bowelbabe shows warring Wags meaning of dignity

The Wagatha Christie trial shows what two women with too much money and too much time on their hands can achieve without too much effort.

So far, there have been tears, stupidity and a chasm of inanity as Miss Silly sues Miss Naughty over who said what to Mr Porky Pie.

In the history of British justice, has such a childish, foolish farce ever been dragged before a judge? I don’t think so. 

It seems preposterous that a court of law should be taking up time with this twaddle, but that is how the system works in this country.

At its heart lies the issue of reputational damage, but did Rebekah Vardy or Coleen Rooney ever have a reputation worth saving in the first place?

I mean that in a kindly way, in that if they are known to the British public at all, it is only through the prism of their successful footballer husbands, and not by anything they have achieved or accomplished themselves. So what is the problem?

If either woman wants to come out of this well, do you know what they should do? They should knock the whole thing on the head, shake hands and walk away.

They should give the millions they would have continued to spend on their expensive lawyers to ‘Bowelbabe’ Deborah James, who is dying of cancer, and has managed to raise more than £3 million for cancer research by sharing her story.

Then they should go home, count their multiple blessings, say a prayer of thanks for their own good health, hug their children, put the kettle on and get on with the rest of their abundantly fortunate lives.

That is the only way they can get out of this with even a gossamer shred of dignity intact.

Is this end of Meg’s Pearl of wisdom?

Meghan Markle's (pictured) semi-autobiographical animated show, Pearl, has been cancelled by Netlfix

Meghan Markle's (pictured) semi-autobiographical animated show, Pearl, has been cancelled by Netlfix

Meghan Markle’s (pictured) semi-autobiographical animated show, Pearl, has been cancelled by Netlfix

The Duchess of Sussex must be upset that her semi-autobiographical animated show, Pearl, has been axed by Netflix.

Pass me that hankie.

Can it really be true, sob, that we will never see this cartoon depiction of the struggling early years of the beautiful angel Meghan Markle, who grew up to be a fairy princess and was loved by everyone except all the rotters back in the Evil Empire of England?

Is that the end of the cartoon adventures of this Cinderella? Don’t bet on it.

Another week, another Conservative MP in trouble for daring to suggest that those who use food banks could help themselves by learning how to cook properly.

Lee Anderson has urged critics to ‘come to Ashfield and work with me for a day in my food bank and see the brilliant scheme we have got in place where, when people come now for a food parcel, they have to register for a budgeting course and a cooking course’. 

He added: ‘What we do in the food bank, we show them how to cook cheap and nutritious meals on a budget. We can make a meal for about 30 pence a day. And this is cooking from scratch.’

Some might argue that this is compassion in action, while others have criticised Anderson for his expenses claims and for ‘shaming the poor.’

He has done no such thing, he’s only trying to help those who need help — and getting no thanks for it.

Source: Daily Mail

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