Japan's Seiri-Kyūka Menstrual Leave (1947–present) — Nearly 80 Years of Statutory Right, Under 10% Take-Up

Article 68 of Japan's 1947 Labour Standards Act entitles female employees to leave when work is markedly difficult due to menstruation. Unlike Spain's 2023 law, it requires no doctor's certificate — but it also does not mandate pay: employers decide whether to compensate it, and as of a 2020-referenced survey only around 30% of large companies (1,000+ employees) offered full or partial salary, dropping to roughly 25% among firms with fewer than 10 employees.
A Nikkei BP Intelligence Group survey of 1,956 working women found that fewer than 10% take the leave; other nationally reported surveys have found utilisation as low as 0.9–1.9% in some years, with roughly half of women who say they would like to take the leave reporting they never have. Cited reasons include an all-male or predominantly male management culture, discomfort disclosing a menstrual reason for absence, and the absence of guaranteed pay.
It is included here precisely because it is the world's longest-running national menstrual leave law and carries the deepest evidence base — decades of government-referenced survey data — showing that a bare legal entitlement, without a pay guarantee or active destigmatisation, tends to produce persistently low real-world utilisation. It is a direct, cautionary counterpoint to Spain's newer, better-paid but similarly under-used law above.

Read the full analysis: https://www.nikkei.co.jp/nikkeiinfo/en/global_services/nikkei-bp/less-than-10-of-female-employees-take-menstrual-leave.html