This is just so wrong for women everywhere. My sympathies to women who suffer horribly every month, but how many women are actually disabled by their periods? The very implication that I can not work because I'm menstruating offends me to no end.

Pursuant to equal, non-gender-based equal rights, I propose the male equivalent of paid Boner leave.

I mean, have you ever had to give a PowerPoint presentation when you're sportin' a Woodrow? Talk about embarrasing...

"I sympathize with women whose menstrual cycles are such that they actually do have to miss work because of their periods"

I agree, and I think that's already covered by ordinary sick leave, if not Midol and most types of birth control pills.

Personally, I would be mortified if my employer suggested I could have one day off a month for getting my period (I would feel mortified if my employer mentioned my period at all). First of all, I would feel embarassed that everyone in the office would know when and if I was menstruating. I would also feel singled out as needing special care and somehow less able to work as hard as my male coworkers.

There's no reason to single all women out just because they have vaginas, and there's no way to prove someone's menstruating or not. If a woman is in too much pain to go to work, she can take sick leave. If a woman's job doesn't offer sick leave, that's likely just as much of a problem for the men at that job and thus beside the point (meaning: they've got worse problems than "no menstruation leave").

Have the Korean women never heard of Midol? A few times in high school my cramps were so bad I stayed home, but it was also staying home from school. I suck it up and come to work when I'm hungover or suffering severe cramps, that's why there are pain meds. A small small section of women has cramps so bad every month that it requires a home stay every month!

Plus many women who have severe cramps never seek out what to do to make them less painful.

It used to be that employers justified not hiring women for the very reason that menstruation would cause them to miss work more frequently than men. It now appears that some women want to prove that those employers were right in hiring men instead of women.

It isn't doing anybody, least of all other women in the workplace, a favor to call for a paid menstrual leave apart from paid sick leave.

And then we need the day for the Mikvah, too, to cleanse ourselves of our bloody impurities.

In Korea bank tellers aren't considered "professionals"... 90%+ of women in banks here are tellers.

Even though it's still permitted by law, young working women realize that if they take their "permitted" day off each month, it's esentially telling the "old boys" network not to take them seriously, and that they're likely to quit as soon as they're married or get pregnant.

"Menstrual Leave" is used against women as an example of our "unreliability and weakness."

In my company, the men wear suits and ties, and the "office girls" wear uniforms. Once you're above the level of "Assistant Manager" (Dae-li in Korean) you're free to wear whatever professional clothing you want.

Of course, if you were paid a pittance, and weren't given any responsbility in an office, it would be a real motivator to spend whatever you can on plastic surgery and clothes so that you can snag a husband who will support you... women here really have to prove themselves in ways men don't.

Furthermore, the "corporate drinking culture", where all the guys in the office get together to drink soju until they puke once a week, restricts the ability of women to really belong to the club.

-- It's because young women are realizing that they can be successful in business OR have a family that S.Korea is now facing the lowest birth rate in OECD nations.

Everyday, I count myself lucky that I'm a "foreign expert", (in Korea 8 years, and the only foreigner at my company) and am exempt from a lot of this bullshit. Of course, I expect to be given a pink slip the minute I get pregnant too...

There are already enough divisions between the sexes -- do we really need to demand another?

No

This is just more fodder for the whole "A woman could never be president because she's useless/crazy/cranky/etc. for one week out of every month." So, no, women shouldn't get menstrual leave.

But paid leave in the US is a joke. Most of us get 2 measly weeks or none at all. I think we'd all be less frazzled and more productive if we got more paid leave time, regardless of gender.

...at least in those companies or govenmental entities that still have strong union contracts. According to a relative of mine, EVERYONE - male or female - is allowed a certain number of "personal days off" in addition to standard holidays and sick leave. So if a woman feels she needs a "lady day" off she can do so and it's basically none of anyone's business.

My mother in law, a South American, believes that a menstruating woman can easily hemmorage if she sweeps floors or performs certain other tasks. No word on how poor farmers get to lay around when they menstrute, but I digress. This Korean kerfluffle may be due in part to some lingering attitudes that menstruating women are somehow vulnerable. It wasn't that long ago that girls in this country didn't have to go to gym class for the same reason. In short: ignorance is at play here, and this is terrible for women.

Do you consider menstruation an illness? A disability? I don't. If you're going to demand legislated "menstruation leave," then be prepared for every sort of legislated discrimination. No thanks. I'll continue to live my life as usual while I menstruate.

First, there may be historical factors at work here that we have been lucky enough to avoid in our American lifetimes. I wonder if during the (really quite recent) Korean War, workplaces were desperate for female workers to replace the male soldiers, but perhaps workplace-compatible menstrual supplies were scarce. If you need female workers, and they need to menstruate at home, you have to accommodate them.

Second, even if neither of those conditions are now true (i.e. there is a surplus of workers and disposable tampons and pads are readily available), I for one would say that you could pry my day off per month out of my cold, dead hand. We give enough of our lives to corporations and work; ANY scenario in which we can reclaim that time for ourselves is a positive. That said, I'm all for giving 12 extra paid days off per year to men, menopausal/otherwise non-cycling women, and intersexuals. Why not advocate for bettering everyone's situation, instead of worsening that of cycling women?

Third, despite Carole's description of the situation in Korea, I don't think that paid time off for menstruation is necessarily antifeminist. Just because it recognizes a difference between the sexes doesn't mean it's sexist. in fact, we have many laws, advocated for by feminists, that protect a woman's job status despite biological differences between the sexes, e.g., laws against pregnancy discrimination, or maternity leave and break time to pump breast milk, both of which are legally protected in my home state of California. (Dads and adoptive parents get 6 weeks state-paid leave at 60%, whereas delivering moms get 12 weeks, reflecting that they actually gave birth. BIG difference, I can tell you.)

Whereas most writers here seem to think that the best way to protect female workers from job discrimination is to pretend there are no differences, I think this is facile, erroneous reasoning, and can be extended to argue against maternity leave/pumping breaks. Further down the slippery slope, I'm imagining a corporation seeking out anorexic employees, since they don't menstruate at all, nor do they need a lunch break! Awesome! Put a catheter to their bladder and you're good to go! I'm always shocked at how many Broadsheet readers seem to think that it is the workers' job to protect corporate interests.

The best way to protect female workers is to begin from the position that we are worthy, skilled workers with a tremendous amount of capability to offer employers, and which we can best offer them if our needs as reproductive-age female humans are accommodated.