Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer made waves
with a flirty photo session for her 3,000-word Vogue profile. Other top
execs wanna have fun too. Click through the gallery for more business
leaders who like to let their hair down.
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CEOs gone wild
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Marissa Mayer appears in September issue of Vogue magazine
- Some women say the Vogue shoot was inappropriate for a female CEO
- Other women cite a double standard for how female and male CEOs are showcased
- Mayer's Vogue shoot marks her first public presentation as Yahoo! CEO
Editor's note: Kelly
Wallace is CNN's digital correspondent and editor-at-large covering
family, career and life. She's a mom of two girls and lives in
Manhattan. Read her other columns and follow her reports at CNN Parents and on Twitter.
(CNN) -- And I didn't think Marissa Mayer, the Yahoo! chief who caused quite a stir with her two-week maternity leave and decision to ban employees working from home, could get any more controversial.
Enter her decision to strike a pose in the September issue of Vogue magazine, lounging on a hammock wearing Michael Kors and stiletto heels, and let the debate, mostly among women, rage on.
"Smart women can be beautiful," said Jen Bosse of the blog, Defining My Happy.
"Beautiful women can be leaders of industry. Women should not have to
succumb to societal pressure dictating what they are 'allowed' to be and
do."
I happen to agree with Jen's sentiment, but other women saw Mayer's pose as a step backward.
"We fight so hard to be
where we are and prove that it wasn't our cute bodies, perky boobs or
cute face that got us there," said self-described "pretty geek," Anna
Nicole Moose, in response to a request for comment on CNN's Facebook
page. "Shame on you Marissa Mayer for playing into stereotypes."
Yahoo CEO's Vogue photos inspire debate
Why the interest in Yahoo CEO?
Yahoo extends maternity leave
Can working moms 'have it all'?
But can't a woman be
powerful, strong and beautiful, all at once? That question drew a range
of responses from women on various rungs of the corporate ladder, some
supportive of Mayer embracing her femininity and others lamenting the
undue pressure on female leaders to soften their image.
For many women, the fact
that there's even a debate about Mayer's decision to do the Vogue photo
shoot in the first place shows that a double standard is alive and well.
"Why are women always
being held to a different level of scrutiny in the business and tech
space?" said Carolyn Gerin, senior editor of Destination I Do Magazine.
"So what if Marissa Meyer loves fashion? Would we think less of Larry
Ellison being photographed with his monster boat ... or Richard Branson
with his hot air balloons?"
Cali Williams Yost, author of the book "Tweak It: Make What Matters to You Happen Every Day,"
said, "My hope is that someday we're not batting an eye at CEO women
being in Vogue, as we don't bat an eye on CEO men being in Outside
magazine talking about how they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro."
Patrice Grell Yursik, creator of a beauty, fashion and lifestyle site for women of color called Afrobella.com,
believes Mayer has the right to present herself any way she sees fit,
but says sadly, mainstream media showcases women and men differently.
"I can't think of the
last time a men's magazine chose to profile a CEO by asking him to
sprawl out on a couch," she said. "When, let's say, GQ or Esquire is
profiling someone on this level, they're not asking them to unbutton
their shirt and pose suggestively with any kinds of props."
The response from Mayer's fellow female CEOs and female executives was also telling.
Barbara O., who only
wanted to use her first name and initial of her last name, is a chief
marketing officer who worked in the tech industry at companies ranging
from Apple to Netscape to Yahoo!. Her position isn't one based on
sexism, she says, but on her views about the best way for a CEO to
benefit his or her company.
"The pose that Marissa
took for ... Vogue is not one that a man would take or that seems to be
beneficial for Yahoo!," she said in response to a post on CNN's Facebook
page. "I am fine with her using her good looks or her smarts or her
role as a CEO and mother to help folks take a new look at Yahoo!.
However, this Vogue (photo) looks to be much more about Marissa being
sexy as a woman rather than Marissa looking great as CEO of a company
desperately trying to remain relevant."
Grace Chan, vice president for product management for Wanderful Media, said she wouldn't have posed for Vogue as an executive.
"This is something I
wouldn't personally do because I believe if you want to be treated
equal, you shouldn't take advantage of your physical assets," said Chan.
"I don't want to get brownie points because I am attractive. I like to
separate the fact that I am a woman and I am a professional."
Other women in leadership positions said they saw no problem with Mayer showing a different side of her personality.
"So what if Marissa
Mayer is in a fashion spread in Vogue?" said Mary Cook, CEO of
CallSocket.com. "When she 'took office' did she also park her sense of
fashion, personal interests, and humor at the front door? I hope she had
fun on the photo shoot and she looks great to boot!"
For some women, the issue is not what Mayer did but what she said.
In the Vogue article,
the Yahoo! CEO said she didn't set out to lead technology companies.
"I'm just geeky and shy and I like to code. ... It's not like I had a
grand plan where I weighed all the pros and cons of what I wanted to do
-- it just sort of happened," she told the magazine.
"You don't become a
female CEO of a tech company for just stumbling onto a career, and you
certainly don't end up in Vogue for those reasons either," said Hayley
Krischer, a writer of the feminist blog, Femamom,
and mom of two. "Mayer has embraced all of her horrible work ethics ...
putting a kabosh on the work-from-home environment so why not embrace
her aggressive side and tell the truth about who she is?"
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In the midst of all the
back and forth were questions from some women about why we women are
often ripping each other apart. After all, women have been some of the
loudest critics of Mayer.
"She's not doing a spread in Playboy," said Micky Marie Morrison, author of "Baby Weight." "It's not at all inappropriate. What's inappropriate is judging her."
Nicole Williams, LinkedIn's
career expert, said, "The thought that women can be glamorous,
beautiful and successful is really difficult for women to embrace
because I think in large part it's hard. It's really hard to be all
those things at once and it feels kind of threatening."
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