When discussing the plight of the working woman, it's rarely suggested that women simply put off motherhood in order to climb the corporate ladder. No worries, Facebook and Apple are on it:
Two Silicon Valley companies will now cover egg-freezing as an incentive for top female talent in their prime fertility years who don't want to sacrifice motherhood for work.
Apple and Facebook say they'll shell out out as much as $20,000 for women to put their parenthood plans on ice.
The firms also hope the incentive will help women balance child-rearing and work life. However, even as success rates continue to rise, there are no guarantees the method will lead to conception down the road.
While at first this idea seems ridiculous and dare I say a little offensive, it's actually brilliant. The company gets the full care and attention of a female employee unburdened by pesky children and the woman gets the full advantages given to her ruthless male counterparts who don't feel compelled to take time from work for inconveniences such as giving birth. Seems like a win-win to us.
NBC News reports Facebook only recently started covering egg freezing under a "surrogacy" benefit while Apple will start in January.
“Having a high-powered career and children is still a very hard thing to do,” said Brigitte Adams, an egg-freezing advocate and founder of the patient forum Eggsurance.com. By offering this benefit, companies are investing in women, she said, and supporting them in carving out the lives they want.
Again, this makes total sense. Instead of careers that adjust to the personal lives of workers, just put off the most obnoxious and time-sucking part of women's lives: kids! Problem solved! No more needing to blow off big events in China for a daughter's driving test or missing a child's birthday party. Screw it, thanks to science you can now get around to that whenever. Never mind that you'll be 65 when your kid graduates high school, the important thing here is that you gave your best years to your company.
