Wonder what women are feeling inside Yahoo when they see their CEO going to work right up until they go into the delivery room, then back to work straight away...do they feel under similar pressure if they are giving birth? It feels distinctly American for a woman to be under such pressure to get back to the workforce asap...
Trying to think of the last time, if ever, a Fortune 500 CEO has been pregnant...a quick Google search reminds me that she was pregnant when selected as Yahoo's CEO. Big congrats to her
By some force of habit, I still visit yahoo.com every now and then. I guess it's about as close to "what normal people are into" as I'm going to get these days without TV.
I'm struck by the juxtaposition of Marissa Mayer's place as a historically important woman in tech (which she has personally embraced) and the sheer number of "Kardashian" and "Jenner" mentions found on the Yahoo front page. Seriously. CTRL-F "Jenner" at any time and see what happens. 5 mentions, minimum.
"What's wrong with that?" you might ask. Everything. The Kardashians -- OK, primarily Kim has made a career and massive amounts of money from voluntarily making herself into a vapid sex object. Sex tapes, jilted husbands, nude PR stunt magazine covers... it's the lowest of the low. We all know it and that's fine. If the world pays for that, whatever. That's capitalism.
But Marissa...
I'm always conficted about Marissa. Her job depends on an unholy convenient alliance with the Attention Hounds of the World to bring eyes to her basically-worthless-without-Alibaba-investment company's website. Does that not keep her up at night?
So when a story like this comes out: "Look at me! I'm blazing trails for women in the workplace!" I just remember all the Kardashian-enabling and then it all rings very hollow.
She's a CEO of a major tech company. Pregnancy (and parenthood, though ehs's already a parent) can have a profound impact on someone's life. A CEO has a profound impact on their company. I can't see how this is not tech news.
And its news about women in leadership being women. For the tech industry, women face tremendous challenges because of their lady bits and the tiny people that come out. If she can make twins and pull off one of the hardest tech company turn arounds in history, I think the case will be forever closed about women in leadership.
Assuming this is the real Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo! (which I doubt), I am almost forced to laugh at the typical corporate jargon imbued in this post.
Some of my favorite keywords: renaissance, terrific, dedicated, tremendous, excited, growth, amazing, blessed, most extraordinary, proudest, extremely energized, the future looks extremely bright, etc.
I'm kind of tired of these types of messages. Please, world: stop.
