Why We Hate Writing about Marissa Mayers Pregnancy

Why We Hate Writing about Marissa Mayers Pregnancy Its the brde week of summer and many Americans including us are enjoying a bit of aholiday.While were abroad, we are watching the foreign press cover the latest news about Yahoos CEO as if its simultaneously a business issue, social issue, and celebrity gossip piece all wrapped up in one package. Earlier this week, she announcedSince my pregnancy has been healthy and uncomplicated and since this is a unique time in Yahoos 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.When it comes to Mayers pregnancy, people are mainly talking about 4 thingsWhetherbei sheshouldorshouldntbe taking a longer maternity leave since she is arole modelfor other working womenWhether otherwomenshould comparethemselvesto herWhether we should be judging ordiscussingher choices at all, since we might not do the same for a maleCEO who is expectingchildrenWhether itmattersin terms of her wertzuwachs as CEOIn other words, pretty much everything you can imagine that could be said about this topic has probably been said. Which is one of the reasons we dislike writing about her pregnancy.We also hate writing about it because we want to simply tell Mayer Congratulations, and leave it at that. After all, thats the normal and properthing to say to anyonewhosjust announced news oftwins.But Mayer is notjust anyone. Shes a public figure, one of the highest paid CEOs in America, and one of the youngest and only female CEOs in the technology industry. Like it or not, her personal life is in the spotlight because sheis a mora glamourous subject than the millions of other women in America who have little choice but to take a couple weeks of maternity leave after they give birth. We can only assume she has made a self-actualized and well-informed decision, realizes the attention is a casualty of her position, and takes all the corresponding criticism in s tride.In the end, we decided to write about her pregnancy because it gives us an opportunity to say that we believe many women and also men experience biases and social pressures that make things very hard to be a whole person at work. Being a whole person means different things to different people, but pregnancy is special example simply because its physically impossible to hide, and affects so many people in the workforce.Even in this day and age,women continue to experience discriminationbecause they are pregnant, and also subsequently when they become mothers. This is often despite the best intentions of companies and colleagues. These problems are persistent because they are rooted in biases (conscious or not) and cultural ideasofwhat it means to be an ideal worker and truly committed to our work.However, that doesnt mean progress cant be made. We startedFairygodbossbecause we believe manycompanies and organizations dontlook closely enoughat gender equality in their culture. T ransparency is an important step in creating change and Mayer has been nothing if not transparent. She has sharedher own choices very openly (i.e. a short maternity leave and her on-site personal nursery) and announced big changes to Yahoos policies (i.e. expanded paid parental leave and restrictions on working-from-home). Whatever you may think of her personal and professional choices, at least were talking aboutthings that matter to a great number of working women and that in manycases, really should change.