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Marissa Mayer is not a maternity leave role model – but that's not her job Marissa Mayer is not a maternity leave role model – but that's not her job
(about 1 hour later)
Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, says she plans to return to work two weeks after giving birth to twins this December, which, depending on your view, is either no big deal or the end of the world as we know it. Her delivery date coincides with what she calls a “unique time in Yahoo’s transformation.” It sounds like it’ll be a magical Christmas.Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, says she plans to return to work two weeks after giving birth to twins this December, which, depending on your view, is either no big deal or the end of the world as we know it. Her delivery date coincides with what she calls a “unique time in Yahoo’s transformation.” It sounds like it’ll be a magical Christmas.
You can take exception to Mayer’s statement for having to exist at all: regardless of her actual plans, that she feels the need to clarify the explicit terms of her leave – woman has kids, does job – is depressing. I don’t recall, say, Mort Zuckerman, the publisher of the Daily News, saying much about his out-of-office plans when his second daughter was born. (For that matter, I don’t recall any uproar about Zuckerman being 71 at the time, which Laura Wade-Gery would be justified in feeling quite bitter about).You can take exception to Mayer’s statement for having to exist at all: regardless of her actual plans, that she feels the need to clarify the explicit terms of her leave – woman has kids, does job – is depressing. I don’t recall, say, Mort Zuckerman, the publisher of the Daily News, saying much about his out-of-office plans when his second daughter was born. (For that matter, I don’t recall any uproar about Zuckerman being 71 at the time, which Laura Wade-Gery would be justified in feeling quite bitter about).
The language of Mayer’s statement, too, had about it the all-too-common starchy, defensive air of someone countering an unspoken accusation: that women CEOs of child-bearing age are more trouble than they’re worth. Since the pregnancy had been “uncomplicated”, she said, she intended to take only “limited” leave and to “work throughout”. If you’re only taking two weeks off, adding that you’ll be working “throughout” looks less like dedication than fear for one’s job; Thatcher gave off the same vibe when she went on about hating “the feminists”.The language of Mayer’s statement, too, had about it the all-too-common starchy, defensive air of someone countering an unspoken accusation: that women CEOs of child-bearing age are more trouble than they’re worth. Since the pregnancy had been “uncomplicated”, she said, she intended to take only “limited” leave and to “work throughout”. If you’re only taking two weeks off, adding that you’ll be working “throughout” looks less like dedication than fear for one’s job; Thatcher gave off the same vibe when she went on about hating “the feminists”.
And of course, from a feminist perspective, this move of Mayer’s is unhelpful because it undermines the campaign to improve statutory maternity leave in the US – which has worse maternity benefits than any other developed nation – by indicating that two weeks is ample time for post-partum women to get back on their feet and then behind a desk. Even after an uncomplicated pregnancy, a lot of women need more time than that for their body fully to recover, particularly if they’re nursing. The counterargument that many American men get little or no paid paternity leave – only five states offer men and women paid parental leave on an equal basis – fails to account for the fact that fathers’ bodies haven’t just been put through a meat grinder.And of course, from a feminist perspective, this move of Mayer’s is unhelpful because it undermines the campaign to improve statutory maternity leave in the US – which has worse maternity benefits than any other developed nation – by indicating that two weeks is ample time for post-partum women to get back on their feet and then behind a desk. Even after an uncomplicated pregnancy, a lot of women need more time than that for their body fully to recover, particularly if they’re nursing. The counterargument that many American men get little or no paid paternity leave – only five states offer men and women paid parental leave on an equal basis – fails to account for the fact that fathers’ bodies haven’t just been put through a meat grinder.
I have some sympathy for Mayer. She’s not a politician. It’s not her job to be anything but a CEO; she didn’t sign up to be a role model. And, while the law in the US should be strengthened to guarantee paid parental leave, there is also an awful lot of puritanical nonsense around when it’s considered decent for mothers to return to work. In England, women are expected to fall into a vegetative state for an entire year after having a child; in the US, most women are working again– and productive – inside of three moths. There is something to be said for the expectation that you can and will function as an intellectual being in the immediate aftermath of having a baby. I have some sympathy for Mayer. She’s not a politician. It’s not her job to be anything but a CEO; she didn’t sign up to be a role model. And, while the law in the US should be strengthened to guarantee paid parental leave, there is also an awful lot of puritanical nonsense around when it’s considered decent for mothers to return to work. In England, women are expected to fall into a vegetative state for an entire year after having a child; in the US, most women are working again– and productive – inside of three months. There is something to be said for the expectation that you can and will function as an intellectual being in the immediate aftermath of having a baby.
The extra factor in this story is that Mayer is expecting twins, which leads to the assumption that she will be in an even-more-strung-out state than after the successful conclusion of a single pregnancy. Oddly, having twins may in some way make it easier for her to return to work quickly if the birth is uneventful: most twin mothers don’t exclusively breastfeed their children, either because they can’t produce enough milk to sustain two babies, or because their babies were small and needed a formula supplement from the start. As a result, twin babies get used to being bottle fed from other people early on in their lives – leaving their mothers at least a little room to rest in those sleepless early days.The extra factor in this story is that Mayer is expecting twins, which leads to the assumption that she will be in an even-more-strung-out state than after the successful conclusion of a single pregnancy. Oddly, having twins may in some way make it easier for her to return to work quickly if the birth is uneventful: most twin mothers don’t exclusively breastfeed their children, either because they can’t produce enough milk to sustain two babies, or because their babies were small and needed a formula supplement from the start. As a result, twin babies get used to being bottle fed from other people early on in their lives – leaving their mothers at least a little room to rest in those sleepless early days.
And leaving your children with professional caregivers when they are that young is potentially less disruptive than it looks: at two weeks old, most babies are too young to register the absence of their mothers (unlike a six month old who will go berserk when its mother steps away for even a minute). Assuming all goes well, there’s no practical reason why Mayer can’t go back to work; as with so much of the terrain around motherhood, her decision is being judged on moral grounds.And leaving your children with professional caregivers when they are that young is potentially less disruptive than it looks: at two weeks old, most babies are too young to register the absence of their mothers (unlike a six month old who will go berserk when its mother steps away for even a minute). Assuming all goes well, there’s no practical reason why Mayer can’t go back to work; as with so much of the terrain around motherhood, her decision is being judged on moral grounds.
Leaving two newborns to overhaul Yahoo! Mail – that’s the rub! – may not strike one as particularly helpful to women. But judging Mayer solely on the basis of how she handles her maternity leave is by far the greater crime against feminism.Leaving two newborns to overhaul Yahoo! Mail – that’s the rub! – may not strike one as particularly helpful to women. But judging Mayer solely on the basis of how she handles her maternity leave is by far the greater crime against feminism.