Marissa Mayer Image by Wikimedia Commons

By Debra Nussbaum Cohen July 17, 2012

There is important news for working women: Marissa Mayer is leaving Google to become the new CEO of Yahoo, one of the biggest jobs in the tech industry. But that’s not all. Mayer just announced that she is seven months pregnant.

Marissa Mayer Image by Wikimedia Commons

This marks a radical change from the way things have been for pregnant women in the workplace. Not all that long ago —until Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978 — it was common for a woman to lose her job for being pregnant. It was even policy for women who worked as teachers and stewardesses, among other professions. But even though it is against the law, pregnancy discrimination continues to plague women in the workplace.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Every woman I know who has been pregnant while looking for work has wrestled with whether she ought to disclose it up front or not. Generally it’s not a good idea to do so until a job has been offered. But it continues to be a struggle.

So it’s particularly interesting that Mayer was offered a hugely visible job while, presumably, visibly pregnant. But then again, Mayer has experience breaking through boundaries. She became the first female engineer at Google, in 1999, back when it was a startup.

According to Fortune, it was in late June that Mayer first told a member of the CEO search committee that she was pregnant. According to Fortune:

None of the Yahoo directors, she says, revealed any concern about hiring a pregnant chief executive. ‘They showed their evolved thinking,’ says Mayer, who got the phone call last Thursday that she was the board’s choice to be CEO.

It would have been fascinating to be a fly on the wall during the deliberations by Yahoo’s board of directors as they considered hiring Mayer. Just one of the 11 board members is female.

I wonder what Yahoo’s paid parental leave policy is. Not that it will matter much for Mayer, who told Fortune that she will spend just a few weeks on maternity leave and work throughout.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount