This dissertation explores how menstruation, maternity, and menopause shape distributive justice perceptions within organizational settings. Traditional research on distributive justice has predominantly emphasized the equity principle and neglects the equally important principles of equality and need. By integrating the unique and evolving needs associated with women’s reproductive phases, this study broadens the theoretical and empirical understanding of distributive justice. The theoretical framework in Chapter 3 posits that the physiological and psychological experiences associated with menstruation, maternity, and menopause create a context of uncertainty that reveal critical insights into how needs-based resources shape perceptions of distributive justice. Then in Chapter 4, the empirical studies use a quasi-experimental longitudinal field study and experimental design to investigate how uncertainty associated with menstruation impacts employees’ distributive justice perceptions when organizations provide needs-based resources. Together, my theorizing and empirical results indicate that needs-based resources influence needs- and equality-based distributive justice perceptions more than equity-based distributive justice perceptions, and the results underscore the inadequacy of equity-focused distributive justice measures in capture the full spectrum of distributive justice perceptions.
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