Buzz: No pregnant pause for Marissa Mayer

11:00 AM Marissa, Mayer, pause, pregnant No Comments

Marissa Mayer made news this week when the longtime Google executive said she was taking the top spot at struggling Internet firm Yahoo, was pregnant and planned to work through her very short maternity leave.

Mayer told Fortune that Yahoo’s board of directors “showed their evolved thinking” by awarding her the top job even though she is pregnant.

But many Life Inc. readers questioned how evolved her thinking was when she then added that she’d only be taking a few weeks of maternity leave and would work throughout it.

“What this does is raise the bar for every female CEO. Maternity leave was a hard-fought battle for women in the workplace. ?Now every other woman in (a) high position may be held to the same standard. Bad move for women, in my opinion,” one reader wrote.

Many readers also said that while Mayer may think that now, she has no idea what it will actually be like once the baby comes.

“It's possible, I guess, but she's going to be in for a big, big shock if she thinks she can pull off work and life duties like those at the same time!” one reader wrote.

Still, others argued that if you’re the CEO and bringing home millions of dollars, chances are you can afford to have a nanny to help with the baby, a housekeeper to do those endless piles of laundry and a cook to make sure you eat something.

And some defended her choice, saying that a woman should have a right to choose how to spend their early days with their baby.

“I think this is great news! I worked through my pregnancy and soon after my son's birth. I love what I do so incorporating baby felt like a natural extension,” one reader wrote.