Credit: Spiegel Germany.
Both are high-profile women in their mid-30s for whom childbirth has come as their careers soar to new heights. But with those pregnancies comes the perpetual debate over how much maternity leave is appropriate for women in leadership positions.

One, German Family Minister Kristina Schröder, who turns 35 this week, is criticizing the other — new Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, 37 — for saying that she plans to take only a few weeks of maternity leave and continue to carry out her work even while she is out of the office.

“I respect this personal step being taken by Ms. Mayer,” Schröder told SPIEGEL ONLINE in an interview. “But I regard it with major concern when prominent women give the public impression that maternity leave is something that is not important. Maternity leave is absolutely important and not just from a medical point of view.”
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