As a result of her exposure, we can expect more women CEOs to confront these issues in the coming years, as a rising number of females are making it to the C-suite during their child-bearing years.
In Mayer’s case, she announced via Tumblr that she and her husband, Zachary Bogue, are expecting identical twin girls to arrive in December, Mayer wrote that she plans to take only a brief maternity leave. She cited as her reason for the short maternity leave the fact that “this is a unique time in Yahoo’s transformation.”
This announcement comes just three years after Mayer worked through her pregnancy and childbirth with a baby boy in the year Yahoo hired her. That time, she took only two weeks of maternity leave and prompted criticism from women who worried that her decision would make it seem that mothers who took a much longer leave somehow weren’t serious about their careers.
Now Mayer is doing it again, and critics are offering the same argument: Does her decision to take such a short leave implicitly tell women that they should give up maternity leave to advance their careers? And is she saying that female careerists, having fought hard collectively over the years to win sufficient paid maternity leave and to be able to come back to the jobs they leave temporarily, are slackers for doing what’s entitled to them?
“Although Mayer recently extended maternity and paternity leave for the employees of Yahoo,” wrote Joanna Venditti on the popular parenting website BabyCenter, “what message is Mayer sending to her employees by not taking the allotted time off herself?”
And, as the UK’s Telegraph newspaper noted recently, Mayer’s move is drawing more attention to the fact that taking maternity leave—even though they’re fully entitled to it—can endanger women’s careers.
Mayer is one of the most highly visible female CEOs in the world. Women will expectedly continue taking cues from her career long past her delivery date.
Chief Executive Group exists to improve the performance of U.S. CEOs, senior executives and public-company directors, helping you grow your companies, build your communities and strengthen society. Learn more at chiefexecutivegroup.com.
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
