Who would have thought that an HR memo would be the most provocative piece of writing by a woman this year? Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer’s memo ending telecommuting at the company has elicited the type of scorn that the feminist community usually reserves for rape apologists and Dov Charney. Although none of these feminist bloggers actually work for Yahoo! and will, therefore, not be affected by this memo in any way, many reacted as though Mayer came to their home and spray painted “slacker” on their front door. This is, of course, insane. While telecommuting may be ideal for certain positions and specific companies, it certainly isn’t working at Yahoo!, whose stock is currently trading at 22.09. Google, which Meyer left to helm Yahoo!, is trading at 814.71. In the midst of this media maelstrom, it has been the traditionally conservative, male business community that has come to Mayer’s defense, including Michael Bloomberg, arguing that the CEO of a company probably knows more about their employees’ productivity than, say, ANYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD. Recent articles have revealed that Mayer didn’t come up with this policy because she’s out to destroy working mothers: she looked over data and discovered that the telecommuting employees were, in fact, not very productive or efficient. Does this mean that every telecommuter everywhere is a slacker? Obviously not. It means that a CEO looked over company data and instituted a policy that would increase productivity so that the company might become more profitable and, therefore, more capable of employing people. Shocking, I know. Continue reading “Girl on Girl Action”