Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Says Gender Doesn't Matter in Silicon Valley

"I never play the gender card."

Marissa Mayer
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, is a little sick of talking about the fact that she's a woman. While her behavior and leadership has been analyzed by both critics and supporters, the fact of the matter is: Mayer is just trying to do the best she can for her company, and she doesn't want people speculating about how her gender factors in.

"I never play the gender card. The moment you play into that, it's an issue," she told Medium. "In technology we live at a rare, fast-moving pace. There are probably industries where gender is more of an issue, but our industry is not one where I think that's relevant."

With trying to propel Yahoo forward—with billions paid in acquisitions, including $1.1 for Tumblr—Mayer has a lot on her plate and is working toward a bigger picture.

"I do actually think now we're onto the transformative phase. In the beginning we had to build ourselves back up, walk before you can run. Now we're really trying to transform ourselves."

Moving on!

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Samantha Leal
Senior Editor

Samantha Leal is the Deputy Editor at Well+Good, where she spends most of her day thinking of new ideas across platforms, bringing on new writers, overseeing the day-to-day of the website, and working with the awesome team to produce the best stories and packages. Before W+G, she was the Senior Web Editor for Marie Claire and the Deputy Editor for Latina.com, with bylines all over the internet. Graduating from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University with a minor in African history, she’s written everything from travel guides to political op-eds to wine explainers (currently enrolled in the WSET program) to celebrity profiles. Find her online pretty much everywhere @samanthajoleal.