The CEO of Yahoo! Marissa Mayer gave birth to a son on September 30th, Huffington Post announced yesterday.
Marissa Mayer, widely reported to have been the first-ever pregnant CEO of a Fortune 500 tech company, told Fortune in July that she planned to “work throughout” her maternity leave, returning to work a few weeks after birth.
I can’t make judgement on any mother’s decision to return to work outside of the home after birth as I’ve been there and done that (albeit 12 months later) but can’t help but think Mayer’s move back to the office so soon after birth is a bad one for both herself and female employees everywhere.
In a country where maternity leave is already one of the shortest in developed countries around the world, it sets expectations for women to be returning to their desk when new mums are likely getting no sleep, potentially establishing a breastfeeding relationship and likely still suffering from glorious post birth ‘side effects’ like lochia, exhaustion and “baby blues”. Mayer may have the position and influence to be able to bring her baby to work with her after such a short maternity leave, keeping the mama-baby dyad in tact, but will female underlings at Yahoo! have the same privilege? I doubt it.
If Mayer is committed enough to her job to be able to effectively work from home during the first 2-3 weeks, why not extend that a little further? Establish a longer maternity period, including a period of paid work from home as standard? As CEO of a tech company she has access to gadgets and goodies that would make remote working a breeze, and this simple step could have a massive impact on female Yahoo! employees as well as working mums across the United States.
What do you think – should Marissa Mayer be encouraged to stay at home a little longer so as not to set an uncomfortable precedent for other female employees?
About Jem
I have to agree, she is in a position to change the game for everyone, and in my opinion she should do it.
Someone should. Or at the very least speak out about the expectation that mothers should want to get back to work asap if they aren’t going to be sahms
Totally agree Jem. Seems like she’s putting her business ahead of her family. Although if this is her first child, maybe she will change her mind after the first few days when reality sets in *hopeful*
I think that the problem is not really in the attitude towards women/maternity leave, but in the attitude on work-life balance in the United States. I’m pretty sure that a lot of people in the US disrespect parents trying to maintain a work-life balance, and there’s an expectation for people in positions of power to neglect their family whether they are male or female. In fact, she is not setting an uncomfortable precedent with her decision, she is doing what the precedent states instead of setting a new one. For American women, this is normal.
Sad truth, I know. But I honestly think that there would be lots of people clamoring to fire her if her maternity leave were any longer. I do wish that the US would allow for longer maternity leaves and even set up some form of paternity leave as well, but it might be a while before anything happens.