Photo of CEO Breastfeeding During a Video Meeting Sparks Backlash

This mom/CEO posted a photo of herself breastfeeding while leading a video meeting—and the comments quickly turned ugly

Lisa Conn, the co-founder of a company called Gatheround, went on maternity leave at the end of last year. At the end of March, with a new baby in the family, she returned to work—in a new role as the CEO of the company. On LinkedIn, it’s standard to share an update when you land a new role or promotion, so Conn did just that. She shared the exciting news with a photo her husband snapped of her multitasking like only a mom can, breastfeeding her new baby while leading a virtual team meeting. And then the trolls came.

This is the internet, so no one is surprised that Conn’s sweet, empowering photo was quickly overrun by commenters leaving misogynistic, hateful thoughts—but we’re still disappointed.

“That’s not an achievement neither something beautiful!” one commenter wrote. “I see a baby in front of a screen because momma has to keep on working. Why you had this baby in the first place? If you are not able to sacrifice and dedicate at least the first months of your time to that baby what kind of a mom are you?”

Another added, “This looks sad to me and not like a celebration.”

Yet another weighed in: “Not sure how ‘multitasking’ leading a team meeting while nursing a baby that’s not even 3 months old is a win for women but this sounds naive and pollyanna-ish at best.”

Sigh.

Conn noted in her post, “Women make up just 21% of C-Suite leadership. Only 22% of women in senior leadership roles have children. The percentage of early postpartum moms in senior leadership roles? Vanishingly small. But research shows that companies with more women in leadership roles have better business outcomes. And women have lower rates of burnout and higher rates of job satisfaction when they’re able to work remotely and have more control over their time.”

It’s all true. And despite the research showing that companies perform better when women lead them, this is what women face when they want to lead while also raising children. Not to mention the fact that, in a world where necessities like healthcare are tied to our employment, many moms simply don’t have a choice.

Why can’t we start treating moms like the complete, grown, intelligent human beings that they are and trust them to make choices for themselves? Because that’s really what this all comes down to—Conn loves her job and has created an environment where she can run her company and be a mom, and hundreds of people can’t help but attack her for that. Moms live in a never-ending Catch-22, and it’s up to all of us to change that conversation.