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Objective: To examine the prevalence of menstrual pain among women of reproductive age and its impact on their daily lives and professional responsibilities. Methods: A cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted in July and August 2022. Phone interviews were carried out using a random system to select women aged between 15 and 49 years old. The questionnaire included sociodemographic variables, contraception method used, characteristics of the menstrual pattern (pain and bleeding amount), its influence on their working life, and if they would need to resort to sick leaves due to the impairments arising from the menstrual symptoms. Results: A total of 1800 women representative of the Spanish population took part in this study. 72.6% of them report menstrual pain, with 45.9% requiring medication. 35.9% identify their menstrual bleeding as intense or very intense. 38.8% assert that menstrual discomforts affect their everyday life. 34.3% would have required not attending their work activities or having requested sick leave due to the discomforts, although only 17.3% of the women finally requested so, mainly because 58.4% considered that it might imply consequences in their professional environment, especially those with Higher Education. The women who report more discomfort are the youngest ones and those who resort to condoms as a contraceptive method (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Menstrual pain is a prevalent problem among women of reproductive age and can affect their everyday life and professional environment, requiring work leaves on some occasions. Plain language summary: This study is a starting point to know the prevalence of menstrual discomforts among Spanish women of reproductive age and their effect on the professional environment, to enable an assessment of the possible impact of the menstrual leave legislation recently implemented in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women are biologically different from men. They face unique bodily challenges. One of them is their hormonal cycle, commonly known as menstruation. They bear both physical and mental stress during that period. Coping with such stress is more difficult for working women. One the one hand, workplaces are becoming progressively inclusive. More women are joining the workforce and are contributing to the growth of the economy. On the other hand, organizations have not been very sensitive to this unique need of women. During menstruation period, more than work, what women need is rest. But there are no policy initiatives to take care of such a need. This subject has been debated in the parliament, but no law has yet been passed. A law mandating Menstrual Leave or Period Leave in every organization can be a step in the right direction. In this research paper, the authors have tried to find out the opinion of employees about such a leave. This empirical study has been done by selecting samples from Agartala, Bhubaneswar and Raiganj. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]