You know who can suck it? Marissa fucking Mayer, that's who.
Because of her "I'm going to drop a baby out of my vagina and then run back to my office immediately after" approach to combining career and motherhood, there is all this fucking pressure on regular working girls to do the same. I have been asked by no fewer than three people in my office if I'm planning on working through my FEDERALLY PROTECTED maternity leave, and when I say no, the immediate reply is, "Well, Marissa Mayer did it!" Followed by a weak laugh. Weak because they're not really joking.
Now, I understand why she made the decision she made. When you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, your job is your life, and you really don't have much of a choice about that. Her spouse will probably pick up more of the childcare, and she'll have a swat team of nannies and round-the-clock childcare professionals to help her out, and her kid will probably fine and I'm sure she'll be a great mom, etc. And it's probably not her fault that she unwittingly set this new standard. But she did. (Though screw her for saying publicly that having a new baby was "not that hard." Say that to women who have kids, work full time and DON'T have the resources that she does.)
The problem is that managers now expect this of all women. I actually pointed out to one of these people that my pay packet is nowhere near hers, and this person shrugged their shoulders.
Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh ugh. Discrimination is alive and fucking well.
The worst part is that I'm not even asking for special privileges. And I'm working my usual 60-hour weeks right up until I have the baby. I just want 12 GODDAMNED WEEKS to feed my baby, keep him/her alive, and bond with my infant. That is ALL I am asking. That is NOT too much.
Okay, now that that rant is over...
We're still unpacking, but the move is over. It was a clusterfuck, but it's done, and the place is coming together, and we're painting the nursery and we've ordered the furniture and I did a crapload of baby laundry this weekend, so I'm feeling better on the preparation front. And we looooooove the apartment. And our new neighborhood. It feels very family-centric but also very real and very Brooklyn. Yay!
Because of her "I'm going to drop a baby out of my vagina and then run back to my office immediately after" approach to combining career and motherhood, there is all this fucking pressure on regular working girls to do the same. I have been asked by no fewer than three people in my office if I'm planning on working through my FEDERALLY PROTECTED maternity leave, and when I say no, the immediate reply is, "Well, Marissa Mayer did it!" Followed by a weak laugh. Weak because they're not really joking.
Now, I understand why she made the decision she made. When you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, your job is your life, and you really don't have much of a choice about that. Her spouse will probably pick up more of the childcare, and she'll have a swat team of nannies and round-the-clock childcare professionals to help her out, and her kid will probably fine and I'm sure she'll be a great mom, etc. And it's probably not her fault that she unwittingly set this new standard. But she did. (Though screw her for saying publicly that having a new baby was "not that hard." Say that to women who have kids, work full time and DON'T have the resources that she does.)
The problem is that managers now expect this of all women. I actually pointed out to one of these people that my pay packet is nowhere near hers, and this person shrugged their shoulders.
Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh ugh. Discrimination is alive and fucking well.
The worst part is that I'm not even asking for special privileges. And I'm working my usual 60-hour weeks right up until I have the baby. I just want 12 GODDAMNED WEEKS to feed my baby, keep him/her alive, and bond with my infant. That is ALL I am asking. That is NOT too much.
Okay, now that that rant is over...
We're still unpacking, but the move is over. It was a clusterfuck, but it's done, and the place is coming together, and we're painting the nursery and we've ordered the furniture and I did a crapload of baby laundry this weekend, so I'm feeling better on the preparation front. And we looooooove the apartment. And our new neighborhood. It feels very family-centric but also very real and very Brooklyn. Yay!
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