Marissa Mayer is making headlines this week with her announcement that she is expecting twins, but only taking two weeks’ maternity leave. This is a very personal choice, but what a crying shame that she chose to measure her commitment to Yahoo by the outdated standards of an all male C-suite. Instead of showing trust in her management team and setting an inspiring example for working women, she rejected a luxury that other parents would kill for. 

That this necessity can even be considered a luxury illustrates just how massive this problem really is in the US. According to the UN International Labour Organization, only two countries out of 185 surveyed don’t have a paid parental leave policy—Papua New Guinea and the United States. We offer twelve weeks of unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), but due to policy restrictions, 2 out of 5 women don’t qualify. Only 12% of Americans have access to paid parental leave, and it’s even worse for low-wage workers—just 5%. 

This lack of support is outrageous and we cannot continue to ignore this issue, either morally or economically. Besides contributing to families’ well-being and the general social good, paid leave increases long-term employee productivity, motivation, recruitment, and retention. As John Oliver brilliantly said this past Mother’s Day on Last Week Tonight, “You can’t have it both ways. You can’t go on and on about how much you love mothers and then fail to support legislation that makes life easier for them.” 

Our family leave policies need to change, but in order for that to happen, our current standards for the ideal worker have to evolve. Employee evaluations and advancement should rest on the quality of their work, not the amount of hours spent in the office or the fanatical devotion required to sustain frequent and last-minute travel. Leaders like Mayer have a golden opportunity to change workplace policies and perspectives for the better. They just need to take it.

Interested in discussing this issue further? Request an invitation to our Women Innovators Network Reception at Dreamforce and join the WIN Linkedin group.