New York, 22 October 2012 It might have been enough to halt the momentum but not to turn the tide. The final presidential debate, on foreign affairs, was the last face-off between the two men fighting for America’s top job. … Continue reading
New York, 22 October 2012 This is the debate Barack Obama wasn’t worried about. A sitting president who had overseen the killing of Osama bin Laden and the undermining of al-Qaeda versus a rookie whose first foreign trip as a … Continue reading
New York, Tuesday 16 October 2012 That over-used line might just be true tonight: this actually could be the debate on which the election hinges. The last time President Obama and Governor Romney met, Obama seemed disengaged, almost absent, while … Continue reading
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Scotland on Sunday, 14 October 2012 The towering Manhattan skyline recedes into the distance as the Staten Island ferry churns through the water past the Statue of Liberty. The tourists are all out on deck, clamouring to get the best … Continue reading
New York, 6 October 2012 It was a welcome piece of good news for the President after a lacklustre debate performance. The US jobless rate has fallen to the lowest rate since the month President Obama took office. The latest … Continue reading
New York, Thursday 4 October 2012 There were no devastating put-downs or gasp-inducing zingers. But the first US presidential debate did deliver a surprise. Mitt Romney, until now derided as robotic, plutocratic and out of touch, was assured, presidential and … Continue reading
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Scotland on Sunday, 2 September 2012 THE emails tell their own story. In 2008, supporters of Barack Obama were galvanised by daily inbox updates from the Democrat candidate, full of soaring hope and rhetorical references to “change”. Today, the emails … Continue reading
Marissa Mayer will have a few weeks of maternity leave from her new job as CEO of Yahoo, but insists she will work through it
IN THE data torrents of computer code which power the world’s most ubiquitous websites, a single random digit can crash a system or throw a household name offline. No-one knows that better than Marissa Mayer, the newly appointed CEO of Yahoo.
At the beginning of last week, Mayer was the 37-year-old high-flier whose appointment to the top job at Yahoo had just capped a Silicon Valley dream career at Google. Former colleagues lined up to heap praise on the computer engineer. Working women delighted in the fact that a woman had just taken a top job in an industry dominated by nerdy men.
But then came the nugget of data that changed the tone of the conversation; Mayer is due to have her first child in October. And she intends to work through her maternity leave. Overnight the technology superhero, riding in to save the troubled internet giant, became an over-achieving hate figure, demonised for her lack of maternal feeling and patronised for underestimating the challenges of motherhood.
Mayer, who announced her pregnancy to the world via Twitter, has defended her decision:
“I like to stay in the rhythm of things,” Mayer said in an interview. “My maternity leave will be a few weeks long and I’ll work throughout it.”
Mayer has praised Yahoo for “their evolved thinking” in not questioning her about her pregnancy during the recruitment process.
So is Mayer an inspirational figure smashing a double-glazed glass ceiling and soaring to the top while pregnant, or is she a self-absorbed careerist blind to the life-changing challenge which motherhood is about to hand her?
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Claire Prentice 
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