Yahoo CEO’s Pregnancy Announcement Shows “Evolved Thinking”
In the business world it’s tough being a woman. Not only are the majority of positions of power filled by men, which must make it hard when it comes to feeling part of a global fraternity of CEOs, but the standards you are judged by seem to be different too.
If you put your family life on hold and focus on your career you run the risk of alienating women everywhere who simply do not have this option. Go the other way and you are now pandering to all those nay sayers who shout that women just cannot have it all, something has to go.
So when ex-Googler Marisa Mayer, announced that she was pregnant on Twitter, just a day after the news broke that she was the choice for Yahoo’s CEO position (the company’s fifth chief executive in as many years) there was the usual pause as people wondered whether she had blindsided the Yahoo board and what would this mean.
In what has to be the clearest signal yet that we are finally moving past the stereotypical divides between men and women executives, Mayers revealed that when she told the board members she was pregnant none of the Yahoo directors revealed any concern about hiring a pregnant chief executive. As Mayers put it: "They showed their evolved thinking."
Traditionally, women in tech have had a tougher ride than women in almost any other profession. The main reason for this has been the perceived ‘geek factor’ which has made them stand out from their crowd of male peers or turned them into lonely outliers. Yet the fact that a pregnant woman would be considered for one of the toughest positions in tech by a company which needs hands-on management to survive is the clearest indication of how far we have progressed.
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