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Celebrity

08th Mar 2023

Kerry Katona slams women who take time off work during their period

Clodagh McKeon

It comes as a new ‘menstrual leave’ bill was passed in Spain

Kerry Katona slammed women who take time off work during their period.

She said women should simply “crack on” when they’re on their periods and that they’ve done pretty well surviving so far.

The singer said: “We were talking about periods on my BBC podcast last week and I heard that Spain is passing a law to allow workers to take paid ‘menstrual leave’ from work.”

“I mean, we’ve all powered through so far, haven’t we? Keep hydrated, get some paracetamol down you and a heated pad for your stomach.”

The new bill allows women to call in sick to work in cases of ‘incapacitating menstruation’ with full pay. The Spanish parliament brought it in on Thursday making them the first country in Europe to do so.

The mum of five and I’m a Celebrity contestant, Katona, said: “I did three panto performances with Covid. I felt like I was dying but I kept going. But that’s my work ethic, you’ve just got to crack on.”

Some women believe this is a fantastic move in the right direction and would help women with severe period pains and endometriosis feel understood.

Popular British TV show, Loose Women, debated the topic last year when Spain were just in talks over the new bill.

Viewers shared their opinions after hearing the hosts chat about it.

One said: “Interesting debate on @loosewomen about whether girls should get time off school for period pain. As a teenager with severe period pains, it would’ve been great to feel understood.

“Instead, I pretended I was ill with more ‘obvious’ things like sick bugs so I could go home.”

Another viewer said: “@loosewomen debating whether taking time off school for your period is a good enough excuse…why do we have to compete with pain? We aren’t all the same.”

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