A First Class stamp essay on my holidays Many highly successful women have recognised that it is impossible to hold a top job and attend weekly song ’n’ rhyme times. Last year Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, caused outrage when she announced that she was planning only a few weeks’ maternity leave for her first child, and that she would “work throughout”. But in her rapidly evolving environment, how could Mayer have justified her $36 million salary otherwise?