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Why Can’t New Yahoo CEO Take a Real Maternity Leave?

Jul 23, 2012  •  Post A Comment

"Yahoo’s choice of Marissa Mayer as its new chief executive broke the proverbial glass ceiling that prevented women from heading large companies while pregnant. Mayer promised that when her child arrives she’s going to take just a few weeks of maternity leave, and she’ll ‘work throughout it.’ That’s great for Yahoo shareholders, but how great will it be for her or her baby?"

So writes staff reporter Deborah Kotz in today’s [July 23, 2012] Boston Globe.

Kotz continues, "I’m not sure Mayer will really understand the reality of intense sleep deprivation until she’s having her own sleep interrupted three or four times a night for weeks on end."

The story adds, "What’s sad, though, is the lack of recognition and respect given to female corporate bigwigs who take maternity leave and completely immerse themselves in caring for their baby."

One Comment

  1. That’s kind of the catch-22, isn’t it?
    How do you give anyone, male or female, a high profile job and then expect it to be OK to have the job go unfilled for a month or more?
    You can’t.
    Somehow companies are expected to just run on autopilot while an employee is out on maternity/medical/other leave for a month or more?
    Jobs at whatever level are not a way to obtain money, medical insurance or whatever, they’re an exchange of said items for performing a task a company needs to be done.
    Put in a simpler way, would you hire a gardner or housekeeper that then turned around and said they needed to be paid but wouldn’t show up for the next month?
    It’s no different and much much worse, consequence-wise, when it’s a CEO.
    We all want to be supportive of maternity or medical leave, but the job doesn’t just go away while the employee is gone.

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