Talk about a double standard

Marissa Mayer, the new CEO of Yahoo, has built herself a nursery beside her office for her newborn and its nanny, while announcing that no one will be able to work from home any longer.  What a complete pile.

She has just set working women with children back 40 years.  Many of the Yahoo employees who work from home are women with young children.  Now we will be back to the atmosphere of my working years, when I had to lie consistently to balance work and family.  The worst bosses I had, when it came to doing my job and looking after my children, were women.  "I'm all right, Jill", were their watchwords.  An appointment at the school?  That was a dentist appointment for my boss' sake.  A sick child?  I called in sick.  A special sports day?  That was a doctor's appointment.  You absolutely had to lie because working mothers were big targets. 

As I said, the people least sympathetic were female bosses.  I remember being pissed off in the '80s when Mila Mulroney had her last kid and proudly brought it and its nanny to the office.  Why the hell can't I do that?, I wondered.  And Sheila Copps -- the famous "feminist" MP -- did the same.  As for the rest of us -- the great unwashed -- we were not permitted to bring our kids to the office.  Heck, we had to pretend we didn't have any! 

Thanks a bunch, Queen Bee Ms. Mayer.  You have plunged the rest of us schlepping working mothers back into the dark ages.  When I retired, I wrote an email thanking all the many who had mentored, supported and promoted me over 42 years.  Looking at the note I said, "B, there are no women on this list!?"  And there wasn't one woman's name on it.  Can that have been?  Yes, it was absolutely true.  Of all the women I worked for, not one ever reached down into the trenches to lend me a hand up.  To the contrary, many went out of their way to either sabotage my efforts, or take credit for my accomplishments.  As I have said, never underestimate envy in the workplace. 

Men, on the other hand, were only too glad to take on someone who could do something better than they.  Maybe it was because I had such a hectic family life with four kids, but I always pounced on the chance to hire a woman (or man) who could unburden me from a time-consuming task I wasn't particularly good at.  (Thank you Christine M. and Joythi L. and Lise B. and Lilly H. and Marilyn D. and Mary H. and Winnie M. and the countless other talented women who saved my bacon over many years.)  

As for me?  Whatever I did, I managed it all with God-given talent and the help and support of enlightened men.