Karnataka’s menstrual leave policy: When the default worker is a man, rights seem like concessions

In a viral stand-up set Ghosts and Periods , comic Urooj Ashfaq teases out a hypothesis: “ Agar mardon ko 150 bar period hua hota, toh ab hum period jayanti mana rahe hote . There would be a period minister and a PMS Relief Fund.” The line draws laughter, but the satire lands hard. If men menstruated, periods would likely be a symbol of masculine pride, wrapped in government-backed policies, social empathy, and institutional support.

Ashfaq’s joke finds its roots in Gloria Steinem’s 1978 essay, ‘If Men Could Menstruate’. In it, she writes, “…the characteristics of the powerful, whatever they may be, are thought to be better than the characteristics of the powerless — and logic has nothing to do with it. What would happen, for instance, if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate