Business leader launches fertility and reproductive health leave policy after personal struggles

After navigating years of fertility challenges and living with undiagnosed endometriosis, a law firm owner has taken a stand against the silence many workers endure around reproductive health.

Editor’s note: This story may be distressing for some readers. Discretion is advised.

Marianne Marchesi, founder and managing principal of boutique law firm Legalite, has taken a bold and meaningful step towards supporting employees facing fertility and reproductive health challenges by introducing a new dedicated workplace policy.

Legalite Australia has implemented a Fertility and Reproductive Health Policy, which provides its employees with 12 additional days of paid leave for issues that cover “menstruation, endometriosis, IVF and menopause”.

Sharing the news on her LinkedIn account, Marchesi reflected on how her own deeply personal experiences with IVF and endometriosis served as the driving force behind the creation of her firm’s new reproductive health policy.

“In 2020, I was leading a law firm while navigating IVF (and the associated heartbreak that inevitably comes with fertility struggles). Like thousands of others, I spent years navigating a health system that gaslit my symptoms and couldn’t give me a clear reason for my inability to conceive – just a catch all: unexplained infertility,” she said on LinkedIn.

“Until one appointment where a comment, not a diagnosis, was made in passing. I had endometriosis. At the time, I had no idea what endometriosis really was, nor did I think my extreme pain every month was abnormal. Didn’t everyone feel like they had nails being scraped down their uterus on a monthly basis?”

This is an experience all too common among Australian women, yet, as Marchesi highlighted, it remains largely unrecognised – let alone supported – in most workplaces.

“I represent one in six Australians who have experienced infertility and at least one in seven who live with endometriosis. Yet most workplaces don’t even acknowledge these challenges, let alone accommodate them,” she said.

Marchesi explained that many workplaces continue to fall short in addressing reproductive health challenges because they were historically designed around men’s needs, but she emphasised that meaningful change must happen now.

“Workplaces simply weren’t designed with anyone but the unencumbered male in mind. And with women bearing the brunt of reproductive health issues throughout their working lives – from menstruation, to motherhood, to menopause – we can do so much more so that women don’t have to ‘quiet cope’ anymore,” she said.

Speaking with Lawyers Weekly, HR Leader’s sister brand, Marchesi expressed her hope that the new policy she introduced at Legalite this month will provide employees with workplace support that reflects their lived realities, while also inspiring other organisations to follow suit.

“My hope is that we can support our team through the real human moments they’ll experience throughout their lives, and advocate for other businesses to do the same,” she said.

“This is absolutely a gender equity issue that every business, and every leader, needs to care about, and it’s a leadership edge that will help attract and retain great talent.”