sunny side up

apple and facebook started offering egg freezing to employees. that is to say, as part of the employee benefit package, female employees of apple and facebook can now choose one of the most radical forms of procrastination -- to have their eggs harvested, frozen, and stored for later use -- and the company will pay for it.

essentially, these tech giants have removed the need to muss up a perfectly good career with a child.

points to ponder...

does someone who can procrastinate in such an elemental way really make a good employee?

do these companies only offer egg freezing to female employees? what about employee spouses or partners?

egg growth, harvest, and freezing pushes $10,000 per session, and storage is in the $500 per year range. are these companies matching that dollar benefit to women who make other choices about family building, such as adoption or natural birth? what about the dreaded a-word...?


i learned about this new offering from apple and facebook (and how other companies offer the same) while listening to an interview on npr. the expert being interviewed seemed convinced young women won't want to take advantage of this benefit because the process of egg growth and harvesting itself is difficult and fraught with emotion.

but.

i am sure the vast majority of current data on egg storage is based on women whose health differs significantly from these young, enthusiastic tech employees. why? because this process has not been opened to "normal" young women in quite this way. the process has been reserved for women who are facing loss of fertility through cancer treatment, or who are not tremendously fertile and therefore undergoing in vitro fertilization, or who are wealthy enough to make this choice.

so.

opening up the possibility of affordable egg freezing is a bit of a sea-change in the world of fertility and family building choices. young, healthy women - who aren't under pressure from age, illness, or infertility - making a simple choice about delaying childbearing. what's emotionally fraught about that? seems this choice would actually relieve emotional pressure brought on by listening to one's biological clock tick-tick-tick.

and...

during the npr story, they were debating whether apple and facebook were being more friendly towards female employees, or less. the "expert" seemed convinced that this benefit was 100% woman friendly. i 100% disagree. although the women in question may enjoy the benefit, the companies' motivation is decidedly not woman friendly. i mean, c'mon. this is a decision made by men who think women will be better employees if choices and complications are removed from their lives so that they can focus on work.

so.

i find this to be a very big deal, wonder what you think, and look forward to seeing the long-range outcomes for society.