Father’s Petition for Period Pains to Be Listed as Legitimate Reason for School Absences Receives 50K Signatures

Dysmenorrhea, characterized by severe and frequent menstrual pain during periods, is at the heart of one loving father’s effort to make a key change to absence policies at a secondary school in the U.K.

In a petition to the Department for Education, Marcus Alleyne revealed that—on Sept. 22—one of his daughters, age 13, needed to miss class due to this globally recognized condition. Instead, Alleyne said, “Very clear disparities” were brought forward by the school’s decision to label such an absence as an “unauthorized” one.

Alleyne added that he was saddened by the fact that he was being forced to take action on the issue and noted that the incident raises “significant concerns surrounding the physical, mental and social wellbeing of not only my daughters but all people who have periods across the country.”