Alex Hern 

Sheryl Sandberg: only female business leaders get asked if they have nannies

Facebook chief operating officer says she is constantly asked about household arrangements, but men never are
  
  

Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg was a senior executive at Google before joining Facebook as chief operating officer. Photograph: Gregory Bull/AP Photograph: Gregory Bull/AP

Fascination with the ultra-rich spans across the sexes but only female business leaders get asked if they have nannies, Facebook's billionaire No 2 Sheryl Sandberg has said in an interview with the Guardian.

The Facebook chief operating officer complained that questions about her wealth were inappropriate, arguing: "It goes to the question of 'how do you do it all?' Which is a question we only ever ask women.

"Men aren't asked: 'How do you do that? How do you do this? Do you have nannies? Do you have a cook?' My husband has never been asked. I am asked that all the time."

She added that she could not find a man who had been asked about his parenting arrangements, citing as an example the chief executive of the company behind LinkedIn.

The 44-year-old was previously a senior executive at Google and worked at the World Bank as a research assistant to the chief economist before joining Facebook. Forbes estimates that she is worth $1bn.

In her interview, Sandberg revealed that she still had household arguments over "who does more". She is married to David Goldberg, the chief executive of SurveyMonkey, a company with a billion-dollar valuation. "The issue of who does more, men or women, is pertinent for everyone," she added.

Sandberg also expressed relief that her generation had avoided the ubiquitous recording common among young people today, even though the retelling of everyday personal stories is one of the prime currencies of Facebook.

Questioned about whether she had committed any youthful indiscretions, she said she had got drunk and thrown up in a cab, and had even called in sick with a hangover. "Look, I was a high-school kid, a college kid like others. There was a part of me that's glad fewer people had cell phones when I was that age."

Sandberg joined Facebook in March 2008 as chief operating officer after meeting Mark Zuckerberg at a Christmas party and then again in the World Economic Forum at Davos. In 2013, she released her first book, Lean In, which covers feminist issues such as the lack of women in government and business leadership positions.

 

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