At Fertifa, we have a Women's Health Policy in place because we've seen the impact women's health challenges can have on an individual, especially in the absence of proper workplace support. A Women's Health Policy is a crucial part of building an inclusive workplace – that works for everyone.

‍

• One third of women experience severe reproductive or gynaecological health problems that can have debilitating symptoms.‍
• Over 1 in 10 women have endometriosis. The average person with endometriosis takes up to 20 sick days per year for the most common symptom, severe pain.
• Period pain leads to an average of 9 days of lost productivity for women each year.

‍

Our template policy includes the reasons why your employees need a Women's Health Policy and an overview of the most common women's health challenges and gynaecological conditions. We outline how employees can book time off, access support, and how many days an employee should be entitled to. We also include a section with women's health terminology that covers some of the more confusing and lesser known terms.

‍

Over the next few months, we'll be releasing more of our internal policies, including our pregnancy loss, menopause, fertility and family-forming, and men's health policies. We hope that other companies will use these templates when thinking about establishing their own. 

Although we use the term ‘women’s health’ throughout, this policy is inclusive of all employees with a uterus, no matter their gender identity. If you feel like the language we’ve used here could be changed to be more inclusive of you, please let us know. We are always open to learning.