After being the target of mass criticism on social media, NBC's Today show co-host Matt Lauer posted a Facebook comment defending the properness of asking GM's Mary Barra about the challenges of being a good mom and a CEO. Critics thought it was sexist and said it was question Lauer wouldn't have asked a male CEO.
"It’d be infuriating, this condescending sexism, if it weren’t so hilariously beside the point," Detroit News business columnist Daniel Howes writes Friday.
Lauer responded earlier that it was a fair question considering that Barra had discussed just that issue in an article in Forbes magazine.
Here's Lauer's posting:
Thanks for all of the comments and feedback around our interview with GM CEO Mary Barra this morning. I wanted to share some thoughts around one of the questions that has started an important conversation. As part of the interview, I referenced this Forbes article (http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2014/05/28/exclusive-inside-mary-barras-urgent-mission-to-fix-gm/) where Barra talked about the challenge of balancing work life and home life.
She said, “My kids told me the one job they are going to hold me accountable for is mom.” She had just accepted the job as the first female CEO of a major American automotive company, and in the article she said that she felt horrible when she missed her son’s junior prom. It’s an issue almost any parent including myself can relate to.
If a man had publicly said something similar after accepting a high-level job, I would have asked him exactly the same thing. A couple weeks ago, we did a series on “Modern Dads” and the challenges of fatherhood today. Work-life balance was one of our focuses. It’s an important topic, one that I’m familiar with personally, and I hope we can continue the discussion.
That's disingenuous, Detroit News automotive reporter Dave Shepardson suggests in his Thursday coverage:
In fact, Laurer had a similar interview with Toyota U.S. chief Jim Lentz in February 2010 about the Japanese automaker’s recall crisis then, and made no mention of Lentz’s family. During a 2009 interview with Ford CEO Alan Mulally, he didn’t ask about Mulally’s fatherhood.
Thursday article:
Tough inquiries about deadly crashes and recalled vehicles aren't what generated the most intense online buzz Thursday after Matt Lauer's "Today" show interview in Detroit with GM's top executive.
The hottest button he pressed, in the view of social media critics, was a question about whether Mary Barra can be a good parent to two children and a good CEO.
"I think I can," responded Barra, the first woman running a major automaker. "I have a wonderful family, a supportive husband and I’m pretty proud of the way my kids are supporting me in this."
Media coverage of the mom question "largely overshadowed the interview on GM’s recall crisis," Detroit News autos writer Dave Shepardson reports.
Time Magazine, BuzzFeed, Politico, Think Progress, Talking Points Memo, Yahoo News, Jalopnik and the Huffington Post were among the outlets to cover the question.
In an Automotive News blog post Thursday afternoon, reporter Jamie LaReau commented:
Imagine it is 1957 and some high-profile male reporter asks Ford Motor Co. CEO Henry Ford II how he balances diaper duty with world domination. What? You can’t picture it? Neither can I, because it never was asked and likely never will be asked to a top male executive. . . .
Can the media start treating her like a person and drop the sexist questions?
Neera Tanden, president of a liberal policy group called the Center for American Progress, also is among those who see the question as sexist:
Seriously, boo on @MLauer for asking a woman CEO if she can do the job bc she's a mom; don't remember him asking any dads if they can do job
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) June 26, 2014
Here's how a Time magazine reporter reacts:
Matt Lauer asked Mary Barra if she can be a good mom and run GM. Can he be a good dad and host the Today Show? http://t.co/sh6C10QMiN
— Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) June 26, 2014
-- Alan Stamm
