That bloody time of the month

[April 25, 2021 — article by Tamara Rose Morales]

Hey boss babes, it’s Tamara and today I want to talk about the role our menstrual cycle, and especially PMS and menstrual pain, play in our career.

It’s 2021, we live in the most modern society but PMS and menstrual pain are still taboo topics at work (exception: our sweet female co-worker helping us out with a tampon).

By now I’ve had a male boss at least four or five times in my life and I could NEVER talk to them about feeling bad during that special time of the month. But even raising the topic with my female bosses seemed somewhat … unprofessional (shocking, right?)

So recently I’ve been thinking: As women, our menstrual cycle plays a huge role not only in our lives but in the actual continuity of mankind (think about it!), yet we still can’t talk openly about it in the place where we spend the most part of our awake time.

And don’t even get my started on the huge impact that PMS and menstrual pain has on women, and our productivity and performance in the workplace.

While every woman is experiencing her cycle differently, for a while now I belong to those who suffer from massive PMS (which might be related to being off birth control).

Symptoms I usually experience are: bloating, cramping, irritability, mood changes, fatigue and brain fog.

These can go on to up to one week before my period starts. Then PMS trades places with menstrual cramps and pain (yay) — not sure which one is worse.

Now how does that affect my professional life? I’m going to be blunt — it fucks with my work every single time.

Take the brain fog for example. I usually am a very communicative and eloquent person. Honestly, when I have PMS I sometimes feel like a Neanderthal and would love to stick to using sign language only. Communication becomes exhausting and even a mundane task such as writing an email can suddenly take forever.

Another thing is that on these “special” days, it’s harder for me to get out of bed and fully wake up, and I get tired quicker. Focusing and deep work is more difficult, I get distracted easily and sometimes my attention randomly jumps from topic to topic like a hyperactive Duracell bunny.

And as if this wasn’t enough, unpredictable mood swings and feeling emotionally sensitive as well as highly irritable doesn’t make my work day and interacting with colleagues, business partners and clients any easier.

Now let’s throw in some researched facts to show how big and important this topic is. Studies show that:

Women with moderate-to-severe PMS have a higher rate of absenteeism per menstrual cycle.

Cramps and heavy bleeding are linked to almost nine days of lost productivity for a woman every year (FYI that lost time came in the form of “presenteeism,” or still showing up in the office or in class, but accomplishing less than normal).

When calling out sick because of their periods, only 20% of women tell their bosses the real reason why they were feeling unwell — almost half just mention a symptom like cramps and the rest either give no reason or make something up.

There’s a taboo for women when it comes to discussing menstrual pain — or dysmenorrhea in medical terms — with their employers. More than half of women experience such pain, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

About 80% of women report being less productive at work or at school during their periods.

I mean these numbers speak for themselves, right? So why are we not openly talking about our PMS and menstrual pain? I don’t know about you but I feel like we hide these reasons for feeling unwell because we don’t want to be treated as someone with a disease (again, I can’t believe I’m writing this — our menstrual cycle is the foundation for GIVING LIFE yet sometimes it feels like talking about diarrhea).

On top of that, women talking about their periods in front of men still causes many men to make a disgusted face or sounds. So if these experiences are part of our conditioning, it’s only normal to not want to talk about PMS and menstruation with our male boss or co-worker.

But what can we do about it?

I researched the internet a bit around PMS and menstrual pain at work, hoping some smart people had already given good answers on that topic elsewhere. I was shocked to see that most resources I found had a clear emphasis on how to decrease PMS and menstrual pain, and increase productivity and performance. I was like, WTF. Why can’t we just accept that this is part of being a woman and it affects us, sometimes more and sometimes less.

I mean honestly, if I could choose I’d say goodbye to these issues immediately, but I can’t. I can make an effort at eating, exercising and resting according to my menstrual cycle, but it’s very likely that I’ll still be impacted by it, and so will my work life. I’m a bloody woman (no pun intended) and not a robot.

I say — let’s start a conversation and become more and more open about this very important topic. Let’s be mindful about how we communicate and act around menstrual cycle topics, and how we react based on how someone else does. Let’s use the above mentioned facts and educate anyone who doesn’t know what PMS and menstrual pain actually mean.

Yes we still have a long way to go and sometimes that might make us feel discouraged. But if there’s one thing I learned it’s that as a community we have real power and influence to change things. Remember the shit storm around Pinky Gloves just recently? We made so much noise that the product was taken from the market — after having been praised as a massive success on TV just days before.

So let’s make use of this beautiful community we have here, let’s stand by the bloody women we are and finally normalize not only talking about our menstrual cycle and all that comes with it, but also make space for a life and work style that honors us cyclical beings.

Actually, you know what: strike “honors”. It’s high time that we start celebrating the fact that we are the way we are. Let society and the business world find ways to make space for the magic that is being a woman!