Endometriosis, abortion… special leave granted to women

2023-04-20 13:06:11

20 avril 2023

The gynecological life of women sometimes requires having to take a break from everyday life. Pain, fatigue, stress, the reasons are numerous. And now taken into account by Carrefour stores which intend to grant women special days off in the event of endometriosis, abortion or miscarriage.

In some companies, menstrual leave allows women not to go to work if they suffer during their period. And this without loss of salary or the need to go to the doctor to benefit from a work stoppage.

As an extension, the Carrefour stores announced on Wednesday April 19 the provision of special leave days which women can benefit from in a specific context: endometriosis, abortions or even miscarriages. So many situations specific to women, their bodies and their minds, which can create a need to rest, both physically and psychologically.

Endometriosis, already a source of professional absenteeism

This is for example the case of endometriosis, a disease characterized by lesions of the endometrium generating sometimes disabling pain, at the abdominal, pelvic and lumbar level. Not to mention ” chronic fatigue which affects mental well-being “, specifies the site Ameli.fr. ” Due to the impact of pain on sexual life and in view of their difficulties in fully fulfilling their professional obligations or their role in the family and the worry of having fertilitysome women suffer from low morale and of depressive symptoms. “So many disruptions” interfering with daily activities (…), responsible for school or professional absenteeism [qui] increase over time ».

IVG, IMG, miscarriages

Other situations include terminations of pregnancy which, even if they are voluntary, are stages in a woman’s life that are sometimes complicated to digest on an emotional level. Women are thus over-exposed to episodes increasing anxiety and depression in the month following the abortion “, underline the specialists of the Swiss Medical Journal. Physically, the symptoms can also weaken the body for a few days or weeks. Episodes of nausea, vomiting, dizziness, bleeding and digestive upset, as well as fever and pain may occur.

The same applies to medical terminations of pregnancy (IMG), carried out for medical reasons concerning the mother or fetus. They often engender a strong guilt, a sense of aimlessness, a sense of having lost a piece of self “, underlines Dr. Chloé Arthuis, gynecologist-obstetrician and Catherine Georgelin, midwife at the University Hospital of Nantes. And these interruptions can occur late, in the second trimester of pregnancy for example, or even sometimes close to term. There follows a period of perinatal mourning that is more or less long to go through.

Miscarriages, however early, can also be traumatic for the woman. Whether it is the first or the third miscarriage, whether it occurs extremely early in the pregnancy or a little later: everyone can experience things differently. But the loss of an embryo represents for many the loss of a child, a projected and desired motherhood.

Source : Ameli.fr, Swiss Medical Journal, www.questionssexualite.fr, sites consulted on April 20, 2023 – Support for families during an IMG, Dr Chloé Arthuis, gynecologist-obstetrician and Catherine Georgelin, Nantes University Hospital, 2021
Written by : Laura Bourgault – Edited by: Dorothée Duchemin