Here’s a question: do you remember the last time you read a story about a CEO or managing director of a company, tech or otherwise, preparing to become a father? Me neither. It just doesn’t happen. It might get a mention in passing but it wouldn’t be news in and of itself.
Not so the ‘news’ that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is expecting twin girls, likely to be born in December. Why is this news, precisely, when it isn’t if a man is ‘expecting’ to become a father? I suspect it’s partly down to two words: maternity leave.
Yes, I know we have such a thing as paternity leave, but it is for a much shorter period of time and, as such, is seen as far less disruptive to the day-to-day operation of the company.
Presumably the potential of disruption to Yahoo is part of the reason why Mayer’s pregnancy has made the news and garnered so much coverage (as the screenshot from Google news right demonstrates).
Mayer probably helped to underscore the issue when she made specific reference to the (reduced) amount of time she would take off during her pregnancy in her blog. “Since my pregnancy has been healthy and uncomplicated and since this is a unique time in Yahoo’s transformation, I plan to approach the pregnancy and delivery as I did with my son three years ago, taking limited time away and working throughout,” she wrote.
There are some who might find that commendable but Mayer also courted controversy two years ago when she decided to ban Yahoo employees from working remotely, a move which was seen as having a disproportionate effect on working mothers.
It didn’t help the situation when reports emerged that Mayer had paid to have a nursery built next to her office when she returned to work after the birth of her son, an option not available to the overwhelming majority of working mothers. Or working fathers for that matter. Although, to be fair, Mayer has increased the amount of paid leave for new mothers and fathers at Yahoo.
Mayer’s nursery ‘solution’ obviously helped her to return to work more quickly and gave her the reassurance her son was getting the best pre-schooling possible (and was close at hand if anything went wrong). It’s just a pity so few of the other female employees at Yahoo have the wherewithal to do something similar.
I can’t help feeling that Mayer missed a trick there. For instance, couldn’t she have announced plans to examine the feasibility of having a subsidised nursery at or next to Yahoo headquarters for mothers in the same situation as herself? It would be a very welcome ‘perk’ and differentiate the company from many other employers by helping to make the lives of working mothers much easier.
Now that’s something that really would be news.
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