I've been following news about Marissa Mayer and Yahoo pretty carefully. It has the A)women in technology angle and the B)women leaders and parenting angle. Lots to love here. 

The latest discussion has been around Mayer's plan for maternity leave – a few weeks off and working from home. 

Michelle Goldberg writes,

The danger lies with the idea that Mayer offers any sort of a template for most working women. It seems entirely possible that, with nannies, night nurses, the ability to telecommute and set her own hours, and a husband with a flexible schedule, Mayer’s postpartum plans will work out fine. We should be far more worried about the huge number of mothers forced to return to work shortly after childbirth with none of those supports.

Goldberg worries that Mayer is setting a bad example for other women in his company who need more time off. She might be like Zoe Cruz during her time at Morgan Stanley who was hostile to women who wanted flex time. 

Yes. There's a real reason to have a few months off after childbirth. Some people have traumatic births that require serious recovery time. (I couldn't walk up and down the stairs of subway or my apartment building for weeks after my birth.) Parents need to bond with their children during that first couple of months. Honestly, nobody is getting much sleep. It's true that all problems can be dealt with if you're making $71m per year, but that's just not typical. And Mayer's example sets a very bad precedence for the rest of us.