The News Minute| October 16, 2014| 08.20 am IST

Two companies, Apple and Facebook have offered their women employees the option to freeze their eggs.

The policy has been designed to attract and retain top female talent, without needing them to decide between motherhood and professional progression, said BBC.

Facebook has been offereing this service for a year now, Apple will doing so from January 2015.

FB provides the option for egg freezing at upto $20,000. Even other services like adoption and surrogacy assistance are provided, said Guardian.

With a decline in senior women in the Silicon Valley the options provided by the companies are seen to work towards balancing the gender inequality. 

However, according to New York Times, it could be seen as if the workplace was paying off the women to put off childbearing. It could also be in the interest of such companies to delay child-bearing in their business interest, said a woman according to the report.