Companies made headlines adopting policies to pay for women to freeze their eggs. What is this accomplishing, and why the controversy?
Last October, Apple and Facebook made headlines for offering financial coverage for their female employees to freeze their eggs. A wave of mixed criticism and praise followed, as tech columnists and female tech CEOs debated the controversial policy. Now that the initial shock has worn off, maybe we can take a second look at what this policy accomplishes, and what it fails to address.
The Perks
The policy was allegedly created in response to the requests of female employees at Facebook and Apple. Both companies have generous lists of family-oriented benefits, which include fertility treatment, adoption assistance and surrogacy benefits. The egg-freezing benefit is meant to be an option among many others, to empower women by giving them more choices. It allows them the freedom to make decisions without the fear of losing time to build a family.
The Controversy
Critics of the policy say that it sends women the wrong message about balancing work and family. Offering women the option of delayed childbearing suggests that they are most valuable to the company without the responsibility of a family. This only perpetuates the thinking that unless women choose work over family, they cannot move up in a company. It may even scare more women into leaving the workforce early.
Others point out that the money spent on these procedures can be better spent on creating better childcare and nursery options. Facebook offers about $20,000 for women to freeze and store their eggs, but does not offer daycare. They have benefits for new parents that include a $4,000 cash gift and extended maternity and paternity leave. But how does that support, say, a mid-career employee who wants to be a committed parent and stay on track to move up in the company?
Help or harm?
Much of the criticism and praise for this policy is aimed at analyzing whether it helps women or harms them. Those who believe that women are empowered by choices argue the policy to be beneficial. Those who believe that a new option can actually be subtle or explicit pressure on a woman believe it to be harmful. But we can all agree that the policy is created to work around the fact that it has become increasingly impossible to have a family and build your career simultaneously. Often it is harder for women, yes. It is, however, true for men as well. The time and effort demanded of employees has increased to such a point that we must find ways to alter our biology to make room for it. Our society makes men and women choose between work and family everyday, and only those who choose work move upward. This is the status quo. Instead of changing these demands and expectations, we’re finding ways to ‘make it work’. We’re willing to compromise a great deal to preserve a man-made ideal – this is not just something women should question, it’s something we all should.