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Understanding the full monthly has huge benefits. (Image: Archi Banal)
Understanding the full monthly has huge benefits. (Image: Archi Banal)

BusinessApril 7, 2022

How a Pasifika media company came to be a leader in the menstrual leave movement

Understanding the full monthly has huge benefits. (Image: Archi Banal)
Understanding the full monthly has huge benefits. (Image: Archi Banal)

Pacific Media Network has introduced a menstrual leave policy for employees, and it could be a game changer for how other companies – and the wider Pacific community –  approach menstruation.

In the winter of 2021, Pacific Media Network’s Niu FM radio station discussed menstrual leave on air and the importance of normalising conversations around periods and menopause, topics considered taboo in many Pacific cultures.

Fast-forward to April 2022 and Pacific Media Network (PMN), a majority of whose staff identify as Pasifika, is walking the talk by introducing menstrual leave for its employees.

The change began at an E tū union meeting at PMN last year. Union delegate and radio broadcaster Sia Petelo says it was a female member who suggested talking to management about menstrual leave, following the korero that was aired on Niu FM. Before long the meeting was hearing stories about menstrual cramps, the struggle of mothers whose sick leave is used for childcare or their own menstrual pain, and male members were voicing their support for the policy.

Later, in a meeting with CEO Don Mann, Petelo pitched the idea of a menstrual and menopause leave policy. Mann declined. As he recalls the conversation, Petelo wasn’t having it, telling him the PMN was “established to uplift Pacific people, their voices, Pacific prosperity, uphold Pacific values and empower our community and here I am doing exactly that and you’re hesitating to follow through.” Mann says he looked back at Petelo and told her: “You’re 100% right.” His mind had been changed.

Lusia Petelo, Niu FM host and Pacific Media Network union rep. (Photo: Supplied)

Mann discussed the idea with his leadership team, including female members Susana Guttenbeil and Leone Vito-Toleafoa who offered insight into the experience of menstruation and how it can affect employees’ ability to work. He contacted Kristy Chong, CEO of Australian company ModiBodi, which has implemented menstrual leave and their conversations led to Chong introducing Mann to Marian Baird, professor of gender and employment relations at the University of Sydney, where menstrual policies are also in place. “She shared research going back decades about workplace gender issues, which has a connection to menopause and menstruation, and it opened my eyes,” he says. 

While he’d gained knowledge from across the ditch, Mann also wanted to look into experiences specific to Pacific women. “I made myself familiar with the work of Lana Lopesi who wrote Bloody Woman and after educating myself a bit more, it was a no-brainer.” He went back to the union, accepted the claim for menstrual leave and began drafting up a policy, which is now in place. Mann says he saw the change as an opportunity to dismantle the fakamā or shame around menstruation and menopause, and to let employees decide what’s best for their work environment, their vā or space, and for their total wellbeing. 

Petelo says she cried when she heard the news. The new policy includes 12 days of menstrual leave per year for E tū union members at PMN. There’s no need to provide a medical certificate and it’s mandatory for the office to supply sanitary products, which are now readily available in staff bathrooms. Because the policy stemmed from E tū union, the leave is currently only for the union members who advocated for it. “Our long-term goal is for the leave to be available for all,” Petelo says. Mann adds that “for any PMN employee who is not a member of E tū, that employee has the right to discuss access to menstrual leave as part of their own individual employment agreement.” Petelo says around 55% of female staff are members of E tū.

Sanitary products available in the Pacific Media Network female bathroom. (Photo: Supplied)

Aotearoa is getting better at acknowledging that periods are normal, says Anika Speedy, general manager of Dignity New Zealand, which works to expand access to period products in work and in schools. “Our hope is for employers to allow and be generous with sick leave entitlements as part of an employee’s right to maintain their wellbeing and hauora including with menstruation. Whatever offering helps create the culture and environment to feel supported during menstruation, to take the time you need, is what we tautoko.” Pacific Media Network isn’t the only employer that is changing its approach to “sick” leave, she says. Other examples include Xero reframing sick leave as wellbeing leave and Sharesies offering two days of “wellness leave” a year.

Days For Girls is a global organisation advocating for better access to menstrual care and education, including the distribution of reusable menstrual kits to those in need. Asked for a response to the PMN policy, Aotearoa coordinator Helen Griffin says she commends any initiative that supports worker wellbeing, be it for mental health, caring for whānau or any other reason such as normalising periods and their side effects. “There’s a strong taboo about speaking about menstruation and it’s incredibly important to open communication and discussion to educate and promote knowledge in this area,” she says. 

While many women don’t experience debilitating menstrual pain, it’s important to remember that’s not the case for all, says Griffin. “Research tells us that women are often ignored or belittled when they experience the more extreme side effects. It seems that menstrual leave would allow women who need time off to do so without having to justify their leave. It would surely increase job loyalty and job satisfaction.  It would also normalise what is a normal and healthy part of women’s lives,” she says.

But despite the positive move by PMN, Aotearoa still has a long way to go. In February, RNZ reported on an Auckland employee who had reached a settlement with her employer over sick leave. She had complained to the Human Rights Commission after her manager had criticised her use of sick leave for menstruation-related pain.

Given the shame and lack of understanding that still surrounds periods and menstruation, moves like PMN’s can only be a good thing, says Sia Petelo, the radio host who got the ball rolling. She’s not only happy about the positive impact on her own colleagues, she says, but on listeners who have learned about the issue – and on organisations, especially Pacific ones, who may be prompted to rethink their own policies.

This is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.

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An image from Tourism NZ’s ‘100% Pure’ marketing campaign (Photo: Supplied, additional design by Tina Tiller)
An image from Tourism NZ’s ‘100% Pure’ marketing campaign (Photo: Supplied, additional design by Tina Tiller)

BusinessApril 7, 2022

As borders reopen, can New Zealand reset from high volume to ‘high values’ tourism?

An image from Tourism NZ’s ‘100% Pure’ marketing campaign (Photo: Supplied, additional design by Tina Tiller)
An image from Tourism NZ’s ‘100% Pure’ marketing campaign (Photo: Supplied, additional design by Tina Tiller)

Instead of only thinking of tourists in terms of the money they spend, many in the industry are calling for a focus on tourism that aligns with our values as a people.

With the reopening of New Zealand’s borders from next week, the future of tourism comes into sharp relief. Flattened by the pandemic and having survived on domestic consumption for two years, the industry has a choice: try to revive the old ways, or develop a new model.

If tourism minister Stuart Nash has his way, there is no going back. “Tourism won’t return to the way it was,” he told Otago University’s Tourism Policy School recently, “it will be better.”

But how? The question is coming down to the various definitions of “value” – both the monetary and less tangible kinds.

When Nash addressed a tourism summit in late 2020, “high value” clearly meant “high spending”. New Zealand would “unashamedly” target the wealthy – the type of tourist who “flies business class or premium economy, hires a helicopter, does a tour around Franz Josef and then eats at a high-end restaurant.”

The minister also asked: “Do you think that we want to become a destination for those freedom campers and backpackers who don’t spend much and leave the high net worth individuals to other countries?”

There was immediate concern that such a policy would overlook the broader value of “lower-end” tourism: backpackers and other budget tourists might not spend as much per day, but they tend to travel for longer periods, bring dollars to remoter locations, and often work in understaffed industries like horticulture and hospitality.

At the same time, high-spending tourists hiring helicopters tend to place a high per-capita burden on the environment and contribute more to climate change. Clearly, what constitutes “high value” is up for debate.

From high value to high values

Now, however, the minister is defining the high-value tourist differently. They give back more than they take, appreciate those working in the tourism sector, are keen to learn about the people and places they are visiting, are environmentally aware and offset their carbon emissions.

This shift in thinking prompted one participant at the tourism policy school to suggest that instead of “high value” tourism, New Zealand needs to be talking about “high values” tourism.

The sentiment chimed with the policy school’s theme of “structural change for regenerative tourism”, and a general feeling that this will involve looking inward to certain core values that matter to the country.

Attendees – including industry leaders, academics, government officials and tourism business owners – supported the idea that “regenerative” in this context matches the important Māori values of kaitiakitanga, kotahitanga and manaakitanga, which should inform the future direction of tourism in Aotearoa.

‘High values’ tourism involves according the same respect and mana to hosts and visitors alike (Photo: Carvers at work at Te Puia Cultural Centre, Rotorua/ Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

Mana and manaakitanga

The implications of this approach were well articulated by Nadine ToeToe, director of Kohutapu Lodge, an award-winning tourism business in the central North Island. She proposed a new tourism model that advances manaakitanga (kindness and hospitality) to guests, while also enhancing the mana of their hosts, local communities and the surrounding environment.

With her business based in the area around Murupara, which is beset by historical injustices and downturns in the forestry industry, ToeToe described the potential of tourism to move beyond simple service industry conventions.

Rather, more authentic, culturally embedded experiences could be offered, based on building respectful relationships with the people and places visited. This would mean manaakitanga was reciprocal, benefiting both guests and local communities.

By being designed to enhance people, community and place, tourism would necessarily break from the old volume-driven model that was putting many natural environments under significant pressure prior to the pandemic.

Helicopter sightseeing in the Southern Alps: more than one definition of ‘high value’ (Photo: Getty Images)

Time for a reset

Of course, it is one thing to suggest that tourism respect the wairua (spirit) of the land, and quite another to put the legislative and regulatory frameworks around a pathway to sustainability.

To a degree this is beginning to happen already. For example, following concerns about a promised crackdown on freedom camping, the minister stepped back from banning vans that weren’t self-contained. However, proposed policy changes will go to select committee this year, with new rules to be rolled out gradually from next summer.

These should align with the minister’s view that “… at the heart of the new law will be greater respect for the environment and communities through a ‘right vehicle, right place’ approach” (with fines of up to NZ$1,000 for offenders).

The challenge now is to broaden that vision beyond individual businesses, or pockets of concern such as freedom camping, to encompass the entire industry. Because there can be no better time than now for a values-based reset of New Zealand tourism.

Regina Scheyvens is professor of development studies at Massey University and Apisalome Movono is senior lecturer in development studies at Massey University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

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