Now you see it, now you don't: Marissa Mayer's missing baby bump on magazine cover adds to backlash from working moms

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer became a parent for the first time on Sunday, giving birth to a healthy baby boy. However the new mogul mother is the cover star of Fortune magazine's current issue, out on newsstands October 6th, mysteriously not pregnant.

The 37-year-old, who has already raised eyebrows after sharply limiting her maternity leave to two weeks, declined to be photographed for the cover while pregnant which has added fuel to a recently revived debate surrounding working mothers.

Parenting websites have come out saying it is a 'big diss' to motherhood, with CafeMom asking today whether the new mother thought 'her svelte figure would portray power in a way that her baby bump would not?

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Powerful but not pregnant? Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, 37, who has already raised eyebrows after sharply limiting her maternity leave to two weeks, declined to be photographed for this Fortune cover while pregnant

A spokesman for Fortune told the Atlantic Wire that the magazine used a photo it took of Ms Mayer a year earlier because she declined to be photographed for the new issue, writing, 'We did put in a request for Marissa to pose for the cover and she declined.'

Ms Mayer's currently unnamed baby started making news before its birth, when the then mother-to-be was selected as Yahoo's new CEO in July - and announced her pregnancy the same day, making her a role model for working moms.

Mogul mother: Parenting websites said Ms Mayer's not pregnant cover is a 'big diss' to motherhood

However when she announced her intention to take just a few weeks of maternity leave, she stirred up a mostly negative discussion about what the potential impact on working mothers might be.

Now, with the new cover released just three days after Ms Mayer gave birth, where she is visibly far from pregnant, the new mother has drawn more criticism for setting an unattainable precedent.

The New York Times' Jodi Kantor posted the cover on Facebook, asking: 'OK, semioticians of working parenthood. What does it mean that the cover of Fortune shows Marissa Mayer … as not pregnant?'

While Ms Mayer is the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company and the youngest woman to feature in the top 15 of the magazine's 'Most Powerful Business Women,' she is also the working woman’s celebrity of the moment - and the face of working mothers everywhere.

Twitter users have slated the image she is projecting, with one writing: 'I can’t see how Marissa Mayer is anything but a terrible role model for women.'

Another user commented: 'It's a bad precedent to set, because not everyone will have the opportunity to send emails and dial into meetings and still consider it work.'

Allison Benedikt at Slate made the case that Ms Mayer, who is married to San Francisco investor Zachary Bogue, is making a 'huge mistake' in cutting her maternity leave short.

She wrote yesterday: 'She should do whatever she wants to do, but she should want to do something different than what she wants to do. ... It’s nuts to ignore that there is a BABY involved here.'

Amy Coulterman, a communications manager for non-government organizations in Canada, tweeted: 'Stop pretending we can have it all!'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2212504/Now-you-dont-Marissa-Mayers-missing-baby-bump-magazine-cover-adds-backlash-working-moms.html#ixzz28IMmnG61
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