Monday, September 21, 2015



Marissa Mayer's Pregnancy Debate


http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pregnant-workers.jpg 

      It was a monumental moment concerning women in the work place when Marissa Mayer's was appointed to be Yahoo's chief executive officer while pregnant three years ago. She is the 16th most powerful business women in the world. She has broken down many barriers of roles usually only given to men. Running a technology company raised many eyebrows and her pregnancy raised even more publicity. Marissa has now just recently announced that she is pregnant with twins. Instead of praising this incredible women for being able to maintain such a high profile job, maintain one kid and be pregnant all at the same time, the media is criticizing her decisions of maternity leave. Not only that, but they are raising questions of whether a female should be able to have such a high job and raise children at the same time. Blogs such as the Washington Post, lash out at Mayer's publicly released decision of a two week maternity leave saying, "The only way a CEO could take less maternity leave would be to deliver triplets while on mute on a conference call." Questions rose afterwards questioning if it was right for a women with such a high position to have children if they were going to be put into care for the majority of the day. Yet, a male CEO that is a father would never be linked to such a harsh question. "I think we are long overdue when it comes to redefining gender stereotypes around parental roles. Those Biases are holding women back from leadership roles," the CEO of Women Capital Markets Jennifer Reynolds said. Now although she is being looked up to as a role model, some dismiss Mayer as being an exception. But, although YAHOO does offer many more weeks than she is allowing herself, many women really do only get two weeks for a maternity leave.  (Then again Marissa did have a nursery built into her office for her first child.)  It is said that 25% of women in the American workforce are only allowed half a month with another fourth only allowed three weeks. Payment is also an issue with maternity leave. One in every two women doesn’t receive any pay during their leave. 


            Although it is understandable that Women are not working during their maternity leave, it is not a women's fault they reproduce and their bodies don’t allow themselves to return as quickly as they would like.  Many women are now being compared to Mayer and being seen as not as determined and dedicated to work since the CEO of YAHOO only needs two weeks. Maternity discrimination is also common among the work force where women are not being seen as committed as their male workers because of their fatigue and commitments with their bodies during pregnancy and child after. The Maternity discrimination campaign: Pregnant Then Screwed has been founded to help women who experienced discrimination and are afraid to return to work after their pregnancy.  Many in fact even end up quitting their jobs to afraid to go back and face the criticisms at the office.
http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/rotating_tabs_590x316/images/tabs/pwfa-iptab.jpg

         The topic of whether a women should be able to handle such high status jobs and maintain a child at the same time can be traced all the way back to gender roles: Mother staying home looking after children while the father works. This set up is nothing new for it is demonstrated in the books we have read so far in class such as Middlesex and Mrs. Dalloway. When Cal’s grandparents immigrated to the United States in the book Middlesex, his grandmother Desdemona spent almost all of her life at home while Lefty found work where he could. But, Lefty does show discrimination when he makes Desdemona get a job after implying she did nothing around the house. He did not realize that just because she stayed at home it doesn’t mean she did nothing. In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa is also a stay at home mom whose mind is occupied about parties and who is inviting who to brunches. Since she does not have a respectable job many perceive her to be shallow. But like Alex mentioned yesterday, even if a women does work and commit to a job, they are not even getting paid the same amount as the men (who harass these women about their private decisions). In society, like in the case of Marissa Mayer, and in our books such as the two mentioned above, one can see that it is difficult for a women to balance work and children all while trying to avoid discrimination about their private parental decisions.

  1. Why do you think a man feels it is right to discriminate pregnant women in the workforce? Do you think it could physiologically be traced back to jealousy where women obtain the power to produce a living creature while a man cannot?
  2. Do you think Marissa Mayer’s public decision of a two week maternity leave will positively portray a women’s commitment to work or do you think it will react negatively towards women who will be looked down upon if they would like a longer leave?
  3. Do you think more men hold higher positions in the work force because bosses don’t want to take the risk of a women/mother balancing work and children?
Links Used:
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)