This Bloody Conversation Needs To Happen. Period. | Kristel de Groot | TEDxAmsterdamWomen
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgCNN7UbmuE Video ID: AgCNN7UbmuE ============================================================ Transcriber: Federica Strazzella Reviewer: Mariam Basem It feels like my uterus is being ripped out of me. I’m sitting in our quarterly board meeting and I'm trying to keep it together. My stomach cramps are hurting and I wish I was laying flat on the couch at home, but instead I'm listening to the queue free business results. I’m wondering, am I bleeding from my pants? Did I bring enough tampons? Seriously, sometimes I wish I would just be a man. If Dave would only know how I'm feeling right now. I wish the time was ticking a little bit faster because I'm tired, I'm in pain and I'm having my period. One of those really, really painful ones. And I wondered, why is it that I can't just tell them that I'm having a painful period at work? And you're probably wondering right now what the hell is happening? Is she seriously talking about periods at a TEDx event? You might be a little tense, uncomfortable Because the taboo of periods is deeply ingrained in all of us. But this bloody conversation is happening, period. Why is it that periods are such a taboo at work, but even just in life, because it shouldn't be. If you really think about it, all of you sitting here wouldn't be alive if it wouldn't be for women's periods. It is from there. That I really fired as a female founder where I own a health company and I help women improved our health with power of plants. And I was doing research for a new product and I was learning about hormone health issues. And I quickly realized that I was not the only one struggling with PMS. There were many, many more women going through this. This is a universal problem, and I could solve for this with powerful plants and herbs, but there's also something else that could immediately shift and that was Moondays an idea I came up with and decided to implement right away. Moondays are for female identifying employees. They can take one day a month a Moonday when they’re struggling with their period or with menopause. It is a day where they do what they can, and that can also mean taking a full day off or half day off, that's going to mean cancelling all their meetings because they don't want to talk to anyone or when you have that really important meeting like a board meeting. It simply means. Being able to share with the people around you at work how you're truly feeling so they can be there for you. When I introduced Moonday to our leadership team. The first reaction I got was 12 extra holidays. Are you crazy? And what about us men? How do we really know they truly have their period? And I think this is a reaction that we will get anywhere and everywhere. And let me clarify. Having your period doesn't mean that you are going on holiday. It doesn't mean. That you're sick, either. What it can mean for women, when they have their period that they might need a day to simply pause, to take care of themselves, to fully show up the next day again? Let's zoom in on this topic a little more, because it's a fun one. Women don't often talk about their period pain. They don't complain about it at work, so you're probably wondering how bad could it really be? In a recent Dutch study among women and girls, it actually showed a shocking 85 percent of them experienced painful cramping during their period. Period pain is real. And many, many women experience it. Cramps, brain fogs, emotional swing, sadness, anger, depression, anxiety. Tiredness, complete exhaustion. These are just some of the words that female employees at my company used to describe their period. And they don't like talking about period pain. Many women don't. Some of them don’t even like the idea of using a Moonday because they don't want to be seen as weak. We women taught ourselves to simply power through. Take a painkiller pretend to just be fine. And we became really, really good at that. These are some real stories from women having their periods at work. I brought a hot water bottle to work one day, and I got told that I’m not at home. so, Just take a paracetamol and take the bottle away. I have PCOS, an ovarian cyst. I was in a lot of pain and I asked to leave early, and I was told it was not a valid reason to leave. I got called out for taking days off, even though I had severe migraines during my period. This is year 2021 and this is still happening. I believe that a working relationship should be built on trust. Women are experiencing period pain. So why are we forcing them to simply sit there and pretend that they're fine? In our company, we learned that not everyone is using Moondays, not every woman needs them every month, not every woman has period pain. But the women who do are so grateful that there is that space to pause to then fully show up again the next day and during other parts of their female cycle. That they can really actually show up as their powerful self where they have extra energy, more focus. And powerful creativity. Women are just like men when it comes to work. They want to succeed, they want to perform. Moondays are not misused and I would even argue Moondays are actually still underused at our company. If you want to be an employer of the future, implement Moondays. It's a way to build trust. This is not just a female conversation. You men listening to this. I'm talking to you as well. The workplace has been designed by men for men many, many years ago, and we women entered that pre-existing workplace to make the workplace truly inclusive periods is a topic. That we should be able to talk about. Men. I can imagine you're a little afraid to talk about this topic. To offend someone, to say something wrong. I get it. But you’re not alone. We women often can't even talk about this topic. So we don’t expect that you know, how to. Moonday policy is a framework for women and men to make it easier at work, to talk about periods, you don’t even have to say the word periods anymore. And women out there, if men say something wrong, use that opportunity to actually educate them. The Moonday policy, as well as the breaking the period taboo, can't happen unless we all start being OK talking about this topic and accept that periods exist. You heard me talk about my period journey for 10 uncomfortable minutes. But now it's up to all of you and you. Tomorrow, if you go to work. Go talk to your HR manager. Go talk to your boss. If you own a company, go implement Moondays right now. If you want to empower women, empower their period. Let's break this taboo. Be bold, be a leader. Be truly inclusive and create this new normal with me to get our period.