By Mayim Bialik
With the publication of the Sheryl Sandberg’s book,
Lean In, and the related decision by Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer to no longer
allow working from home (she herself returned to work two weeks postpartum
albeit with a nursery built for her son next to her office) there has been a lot
of “feminist” stuff swirling around the media and my head. And it’s getting
crowded in there. I want to share some things that I have been considering. Mind you, these are just thoughts. The issues at hand are so broad, so complex, and so overwhelming, that I have decided to just throw out there my initial thoughts and reactions to the media storm swirling and see what happens next.
Here are “Five Things That Currently Don’t Make Sense To Me.”
1. Returning to work two weeks postpartum is not good for your body. You’re still bleeding from birth. That’s a pretty strong indicator to chill out and maybe not return to a corporate office. Two weeks is a time of tremendous hormonal upheaval. Your body is actively trying to recover from the significant event called birth whereby a tiny person who has been in your body for 40 weeks comes out from your uterus and breathes air and all of that newborn stuff they do for the first time. Whether you had a C-section or vaginal birth, medicated, natural, homebirth (woohoo!), whatever… two weeks is a ridiculously short amount of time.
2. Since when is having a baby something to check off the list? People are talking about women in this day and age having a baby as if it’s buying a car, or refinancing the mortgage, or borrowing a car to stop off at the market: “Did you have that baby you mentioned wanting?” “Did you find the right time to have a baby? There’s a narrow window in there you want to hit on, you know.” “When are you going to have that baby? ‘Cause I’m going to need you to get back soon.”
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