Yahoo! CEO and new mom Marissa Mayer is unfairly under fire for building a nursery next to her office so she can bring her four-month-old son, Macallister, to the office.

The controversy erupted right now because 37-year-old Mayer has issued a new directive ending the practice of Yahoo! employees working from home.

Employees are griping that it’s unfair that Mayer can bring her baby to the office, while they can’t work from home regularly and take care of their own kids at the same time.

While I understand the outrage when a fairly-new CEO — Mayer joined Yahoo! on July 16, 2012 – changes a long-standing policy, I don’t think her baby nursery and the working-from-home policy should be linked.

The Sexism Began When She Did

Mayer after all, has faced sexist criticism from the moment her appointment was announced.

That was because she was five months pregnant when she took on the tough assignment of heading up the $3.94 billion revenue company.

Critics lashed out simply because she was pregnant, and they wondered how she could shoulder the responsibility of leading a major corporation while carrying and giving birth to a baby. Like women haven’t handled tons of responsibility while pregnant, before.

Women, shockingly, were especially harsh.

“We all applaud her, but she’s superhuman, rich, and in charge,” responded Anne-Marie Slaughter, a professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and author of a much-discussed piece for Atlantic Monthly, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.”

Marissa Mayer isn’t “really a realistic role model for hundreds of thousands of women who are trying to figure out how you make it to the top AND have a family at the same time.,”Slaughter contended.

Men Far Outnumber Women As CEOS

Well, instead of insulting Mayer by saying she’s “superhuman,” and not a “realistic” role model, and criticizing her for paying for a nursery at her own expense, we SHOULD be applauding her.

She is one of only 42 female CEOs in the Fortune 1,000 biggest revenue companies. Did you get that — 42 out of 1,000?

There are so few female CEOs of large companies, we shouldn’t be slagging any of them, let alone dissing Mayer for first being pregnant, and second, for trying to be close to her baby.

Mayer took the responsibility of her position so seriously, she only took two weeks of maternity leave, and I doubt that she ever stopped actually working, except for the few hours she was giving birth.

Now, her office nursery is her solution to being on top and having a family at the same time. If Marissa were a man who wanted to be a deeply involved father to his newborn and built a nursery next to his office, wouldn’t people — especially women — be swooning over his commitment to fatherhood?

Would A Man Be Criticized For Trying To Combine Being A CEO With Fatherhood?

Would he be pilloried for having an unfair advantage over other workers, because he was a wealthy CEO and in a power position?

I doubt it!

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a male CEO described as a “superhuman” in a derogatory way. Men don’t criticize male CEOs for being rich and powerful; they admire them. They genuinely see them as role models.

While I realize that most female Yahoo! employees can’t set up a nursery next to their desks, I also doubt most would be willing to take a mere two weeks of maternity leave like Marissa did. And would most be willing to work her unending hours, no doubt, seven days a week?

Mayer’s nursery — which, I repeat, she paid for herself — probably is her only reasonable solution to being able to hold, nurture and possibly breastfeed her son, while also fulfilling the responsibilities of running Yahoo!

Yes, her solution isn’t available to most women at most companies, but we need to accept that Mayer is in a very unique position — she is a CEO of a huge company.

Why She’s A Role Model

Mayer is not the same as most female workers and that’s why she is a role model. She has reached a major leadership position through her own hard work, intelligence and achievements at the young, childbearing age of 37. Many, many women throughout the country are working toward doing the same thing.

Now, if there are going to be other Marissa Mayers — young women promoted to CEO at major corporations, there will have to be some special concessions, like being able to bring their babies to work.

And what I don’t know is whether her own experience as a new mother will lead Mayer to make arrangements for other new mothers at Yahoo! to bring their own babies to work. We’ll see.

In the meantime, Mayer is doing her best to lead her company in new policies, to achieve growth, which will benefit all her employees.

So, let’s — especially women — stop criticizing her for doing her best to have a family and a fulfilling career, as so many of us are trying to do!

Do you agree, HollywoodLifers? Let me know and vote below!

– Bonnie Fuller

More Marissa Mayer News:

1. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer: Please Don’t Minimize Being A Working Mom
2. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer: Having A Baby Is ‘Easier’ Than I Thought
3. Marissa Mayer Returns To Yahoo Two Weeks After Baby — Too Soon?

Marissa Mayer, 37, the Yahoo CEO who accepted her high-powered job when she was five months pregnant with her son Macallister, has stirred up controversy yet again after she had a nursery built near her office at the Internet corporation’s headquarters in Silicon Valley. But while the working mom has her baby nearby, she has banned other employees from working from home — a luxury the employees once valued.

Marissa — who famously returned to work just two weeks after giving birth — had the nursery built at her own expense. But some employees are livid that she is allowed such the freedom to be near her baby, when others are forced to leave their children at home to come in to work.

“I wonder what would happen if my wife brought our kids and nanny to work and set ‘em up in the cube next door?” the husband of a Yahoo employee who works from home said an interview with AllThingsD.com.

Yahoo Demands All Remote-Working Employees Report To The Office

But while some employees at Yahoo are able to juggle work and family life because they have been able to work from home, Marissa has demanded that all remote-working employees start working from the office.

“Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home,” a memo from the company read regarding the change. “We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.”

Even though it only affects a small percentage of employees, it is still considered harsh as employees are forced to comply or quit.

What do YOU think of Marissa Mayer having a nursery in her office HollyMoms? Do you think it’s hypocritical that she won’t allow employees to work from home? Let us know in the comments below!

– Christina Stiehl

More Marissa Mayer News:

1. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer: Please Don’t Minimize Being A Working Mom
2. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer: Having A Baby Is ‘Easier’ Than I Thought
3. Marissa Mayer Returns To Yahoo Two Weeks After Baby — Too Soon?

Marissa Mayer, I think it’s terrific that you took on the incredibly demanding job of CEO of Yahoo! especially when you were six months pregnant.

Appearing To Be Super Woman

At 37, you are an inspiring role model for all young and not-so-young, working women.

But when you gave your first interview since giving birth to your first child, son Macallister Bogue, on Sept. 30, you spoke out in a way that may have made made the hearts of many working moms drop.

It certainly wasn’t intentional, but I think Marissa, in trying to be totally positive about your job, company and motherhood in general, you minimized the parenting demands you’re under.

“I knew that the job would be hard, and I know that the baby would be fun,” you told an audience at FORTUNE magazine’s Most Powerful Women dinner in Palo Alto, California on Nov. 27.

“And the thing that surprised me, and really puzzlingly so, is that the job is really fun! Yahoo! is a really fun place to work,” you explained.

But then you said — and this is the kicker:

“The baby’s been way easier than everyone made it out to be. I think I’ve been really lucky that way but I had a very easy, healthy pregnancy, he’s been easy. So those have been the two really terrific surprises — the kid has been easier and the job has been fun!”

Is It Really That Easy?

Marissa — I think you’re an amazing trooper, but I’m sorry, I don’t believe you for one second when you say that “the baby’s been way easier than everyone made it out to be.”

It’s just that first-time motherhood for any woman is never “easy,” no matter how much help you have. Babies are demanding. They need to be fed, often so many times a day that you barely finish one feeding when they’re ready for another. Then there’s the sleeping issue at night. And even if you have a night nurse who cares for the baby all night, if you’re breastfeeding you still need to get up to feed. Sometimes babies are fussy and cry a lot. Sometimes they have colic. And no mom can help herself from wanting to comfort their baby.

Then there’s your body changes. It’s uncomfortable to even sit down for a while after giving birth; your milk comes in; your emotions go on a rollar coaster as your hormones change.

All of this is manageable — but it’s not “easy,” and especially when you’re also responsible for running a $20 billion business. Plus, it’s one that you only took over a few months ago.

You, yourself decided to only take two weeks of maternity leave after you gave birth because you clearly felt the weight of your responsibilities sitting on your shoulders.

That in itself must have been a tough decision. I’m a mom of four, who also returned to work quickly after giving birth to each of my babies, but physically, it’s a tough gig and emotionally, it’s just as hard I completely sympathize.

Nevertheless with 12,000 employees at Yahoo! and a board of directors looking for you to lead, plus your own enthusiasm to get in and get the job done, you felt it was important to make the sacrifice of returning to work quickly.

All of this is understandable and hugely commendable, but I think it’s ok to let a little of your super woman image slip. Working women, and working moms especially, would appreciate you letting us know that you are “just like us,” too.

The Reality Of Being A Working Mom

When you just say that it’s been easier than you expected, most working moms simply respond “of course it is for her — she’s worth a fortune, she can afford 24 hours, 7 days a week babysitters, a cook, a housekeeper, a chauffeur, personal shoppers, assistants at the office, etc. etc.” — you get my drift.

That’s what most women are immediately thinking because they’ve been there, up with a sick, crying baby in the middle of the night, with bosses needing reports done, and trying to figure out who’s going to care for their little one the next day, because they can’t take them to daycare.

Most working moms may love their careers and babies but mostly they just feel EXHAUSTED and overwhelmed.

Now, I actually bet you do, too! How could you not? You have a BIG job and a newborn. No matter how much help you have — you still have an overly full plate.

So Marissa, we won’t think you’re being whiny or unprofessional if you fess up just a little. It’s not really “easy,” is it?

Work with us — show us some spit up you forgot to wipe off your blouse. Confess that you’re so tired some days you can barely get your heels on or that you wish you could wear sweats to work. Pull a diaper wipe out of your purse and swear you’ve learned how they can double as makeup wipes in a pinch.

You get it. Just let us in on the fact that you may be the CEO of a super exciting, fun company, but you’re also just one of us — a working mom juggling the super tough task of work and being a mom! We’d be cheering you on it if you did!

What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Tell me now.

– Bonnie Fuller

1. Marissa Mayer Returns To Yahoo Two Weeks After Baby — Too Soon?
2. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Not Pregnant On ‘Fortune,’ Moms Outraged
3. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Gives Birth To Baby Boy

Marissa Mayer shocked working moms everywhere when she returned to work just two weeks after giving birth to her first child, Macallister Bogue, on Sept. 30. Now, the powerful CEO and working mom is saying it’s all been easy — without mentioning her ability to afford premium childcare.

Marissa addressed an audience at FORTUNE magazine’s Most Powerful Women dinner in Palo, Alto California on Nov. 27 — her first interview since welcoming her baby boy in September, and said two things shocked her most about her high-profile job.

“I knew that the job would be hard, and I knew that the baby would be fun,” she said. “And the thing that surprised me, and really puzzlingly so, is that the job is really fun! Yahoo! is a really fun place to work.”

She also said having a newborn baby is not nearly as hard as she expected — probably because she can afford hired help. She also looks like she’s lost all of her baby weight in an extremely short amount of time.

“The baby’s been way easier than everyone made it out to be,” she said. “I think I’ve been really lucky that way but I had a very easy healthy pregnancy, he’s been easy. So those have been the two really terrific surprises: the kid has been easier and the job has been fun!”

She added that the secret to her success is ruthlessly prioritizing, hence her lack of interviews thus far, and said her list of priorities are, “God, family, and Yahoo!, in that order.”

Check out Marissa’s interview below.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What do YOU think of what Marissa said HollyMoms?

– Christina Stiehl

More Marissa Mayer news:

1. Marissa Mayer Returns To Yahoo Two Weeks After Baby — Too Soon?
2. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Not Pregnant On ‘Fortune,’ Moms Outraged
3. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Gives Birth To Baby Boy

On Sept. 30, Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Just two weeks later, she returned to her demanding job after what can only be described as a very brief maternity leave. HollyBaby.com spoke to experts EXCLUSIVELY about what a short maternity leave means for her baby — and if it’s the right move for the high-powered working mom.

On Oct. 16, Marissa tweeted, “My first full day back in the office, and I’m excited to kick it off by announcing my new COO, Henrique de Castro,” confirming her return to her CEO post.

She originally promised to have a short maternity leave, and told Fortune magazine in July, “My maternity leave will be a few weeks long and I’ll work throughout it.”

Marissa as it all — she’s a highly-successful business woman with a great husband and now a baby — but is she neglecting her child in favor of her job? Many believe the short time away from work will affect 37-year-old Marissa’s relationship with her child in the long run.

Dr. Susan Abbott, Assistant Clinical Professor Psychiatry Mount Sinai School of Medicine, agrees that two weeks is less than the norm.

“Generally 6 – 12 weeks is an appropriate amount of time to take off work after having a baby,” she said. “However, there is no set answer. Every woman is different.”

Dr. Abbott believes that Marissa must take certain measures to have a good relationship with her child.

“It will be harder for them to bond if they are far away from each other,” she said. “It really depends on how much face time, and how much interaction she has with her son. She must soothe him. If she can pull that off, without needing much sleep, then she can make it work.”

But Dr. Jenn Berman, author of SuperBaby: 12 Ways to Give Your Child a Head Start in the First 3 Years of Life, believes the CEO can have it all.

“Other women are very quick to judge other women. Women know how to mother their own children best. She may feel that going out and supporting her family financially is the best way to take care of them,” she said.

“All children need is a consistent, loving caretaker and that does not necessarily need to be the mother – it could be the father or a great nanny.”

As a woman of many resources, we’re sure Marissa has an amazing support system and qualified caretakers. But tell us what YOU think HollyMoms!

Is two weeks too short for a maternity leave? Sound off in the comments below!

–Eleanore Hutch

Marissa Mayer, whose pregnancy was controversial when she was hired as the CEO of Yahoo in July, welcomed her baby boy on Sept. 30. Now, a year-old photo of Marissa is on the cover of ‘Fortune’ with the headline “50 Most Powerful Women.” But without her bump, moms are furious.

The powerful businesswoman, 37, famously told Fortune magazine back in July that her pregnancy wouldn’t interfere with her job. “My maternity leave will be a few weeks long and I’ll work throughout it.”

On Oct. 3, CafeMom asked readers if they thought Marissa declined to be photographed pregnant because “her svelte figure would portray power in a way that her baby bump would not?”

New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor posted the Fortune cover on Facebook, commenting: “OK, semioticians of working parenthood. What does it mean that the cover of Fortune shows Marissa Mayer … as not pregnant?”

DailyMail posted comments from Twitter, with one user writing, “I can’t see how Marissa Mayer is anything but a terrible role model for women.”

Amy Coulterman, a communications manager from Canada, took to Twitter to say: “Stop pretending we can have it all!”

Do you think Marissa is dissing motherhood, HollyMoms?

More Working Moms:

1. Pregnant Women Working 25+ Hours A Week Likely To Have Smaller Babies
2. Katherine Heigl: Being A Working Mom Is ‘The Most Selfish Decision Of My Life’
3. Sandra Bullock Worries About Being A Working Mom — She Dreads Leaving Baby Louis!

Marissa Mayer, whose pregnancy was controversial when she was hired as the CEO of Yahoo in July, welcomed her baby boy on Sept. 30. Her husband Zachary Bogue took to Twitter to share the good news.

“Baby boy Bogue born last night. Mom (@marissamayer) and baby are doing great–we couldn’t be more excited!” he wrote on Oct. 1.

The powerful businesswoman famously told Fortune magazine that her pregnancy won’t be an issue.

“My maternity leave will be a few weeks long and I’ll work throughout it,” she told the magazine in July.

Congrats to Marissa and Zachary!

Are YOU excited for Marissa HollyMoms?

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1. Pregnant Women Working 25+ Hours A Week Likely To Have Smaller Babies
2. Katherine Heigl: Being A Working Mom Is ‘The Most Selfish Decision Of My Life’
3. Sandra Bullock Worries About Being A Working Mom — She Dreads Leaving Baby Louis!

Here’s the real key fact: Marissa Mayer, 37, is one of the few individuals – woman or man – who can truly say they are responsible for the explosive growth of the Internet.

She is a proven leader, an innovator, and a top business executive who spent 10 years at Google where she was the company’s 20th employee. She is the perfect choice to be the new CEO of Yahoo. But when the announcement was made about her new position on July 16, there was a huge uproar because she’s… a woman who happens to be six months pregnant with her first child – a baby boy.

That state of Mayer’s pregnancy immediately ignited a heated debate about #1) whether it was wise of Yahoo to choose a pregnant woman to take charge of their enormous business – 700 million unique visitors go to Yahoo every month; #2) whether Mayer should take any pregnancy leave at all; and #3) whether Marissa was underestimating the effect that giving birth to a baby would have on her life and emotions, when she took this big new job.

Well, I say that it’s absurd that a highly qualified woman today could be disqualified from consideration for a job, just because she’s pregnant.

Would a male business leader be thrown out of consideration if his wife was expecting their first child? Of course not. But aren’t men just as emotionally involved with their children today as women? Couldn’t they be equally distracted by new fatherhood as a woman could be by new motherhood?

Then there’s this underlying assumption from naysayers that being pregnant is somehow a condition or a disease, and it certainly is NOT! It’s a natural part of life – it’s not a disability.

Would male candidates for the Yahoo position be exhaustively analyzed by doctors to ensure that they have no medical condition that might require that they miss out on a few weeks of work, before they were hired? Of course not! We don’t live in a 1984 world!

My point is that Marissa is a healthy 37-year-old woman who will have to slow down for a couple of weeks after she gives birth. Big deal. There could be unforeseen medical reasons that require a male CEO having to attend to his health for a few weeks too. Life is unpredictable for men and for women. But at least with a pregnancy, the physical after effects are very short lived.

The Yahoo board has clearly hired Marissa for her depth of experience and accomplishments in the digital world and they are looking at her ability to lead for the long haul, not the short term. That’s the smart and right thing to do.

So why would a few weeks of maternity leave make any difference in that big picture? It doesn’t!

“She is the perfect person for the job. She’s one of the people responsible for creating the Internet as we know it and she’s one of the few people who have managed a large scale Internet operation,” a source very close to the situation told me.

Marissa’s pregnancy made no difference at all to the enlightened Yahoo board, according to my inside source.

“Michael Wolf, (the founding partner of Activate Strategy and the Yahoo board member who lead the CEO search) knew from the first minute of meeting with Marissa, that she was pregnant – she told him, and the Yahoo board knew too before they made their offer to her,” the insider explains.

Furthermore, Wolf felt that “if anything, Marissa’s pregnancy made her a better candidate for the CEO position,” says the source. “In general, there are a lot of important skills and traits that parents learn from having children.”

Music to my ears! How about yours?

Now back to the uproar. There are opinionators who insist that Mayer has no idea of how intensely emotionally attached she will become to her newborn. They argue that she doesn’t understand how hard it will be for her to leave her baby and to focus on her other baby – running her enormously demanding Yahoo business.

Well, I find those concerns REALLY insulting. As a mother of four who has worked non-stop through every one of my pregnancies and took very little pregnancy leave – including working from home for the first few weeks – I find this extremely condescending.

Women are certainly able to handle multiple responsibilities at once, and Marissa can love her baby to bits and STILL throw herself into her new position. She has proven herself to be a very responsible and capable person – she is NOT going to turn into a blubbering mess. It won’t be easy to handle both but it IS do-able.

And let’s face it – the woman can afford to have a night nurse to help her with the baby at night as well as a day nurse. She can have 24-hour coverage. She can breastfeed while conducting phone calls and meetings – it is very possible – AND she can afford to buy good catered takeout food or eat- in restaurants. She doesn’t have to go home and cook, do laundry and clean up.

No, not every working woman is earning a CEO salary… but SHE is. She will be lucky to enjoy all the bonding that cuddling and breastfeeding her baby brings without having to wash a dish or change a diaper.

That doesn’t mean that she is an every-working woman. Most of us can’t afford to have her new motherhood experience BUT it does mean that she can be a CEO, a role model for other women who want to succeed in business AND she can be a mom.

So everyone should stop making an issue of her pregnancy and applaud Yahoo for choosing the best-qualified candidate – who just happens to have a beautiful baby bump!

Bonnie Fuller

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