The Maternal Wall

While some women stand nose pressed against the glass ceiling, many working mothers never get near it. What stops them is the “maternal wall.” Where mothers are concerned, coworkers and bosses often perceive a trade-off between competence and warmth. That’s what I found when I reviewed the research on stereotyping in the workplace. Social psychology studies report that businesswomen typically are seen as high in competence: right up there with businessmen and millionaires. But working mothers are rated less like businesswomen and more like housewives, who—to quote the terms used by researchers—are viewed as on a par with the “elderly, blind, retarded, and disabled.” Women who have been very successful may suddenly find their proficiency questioned once they become pregnant, take maternity leave, or adopt flexible work schedules. Their performance evaluations may plummet and their political support evaporate. The “family gap” yawns: An increasing percentage of the wage gap between men and women is attributable to motherhood. When a childless woman is not in the office, she is presumed to be on business. An absent mother is often thought to be grappling with child care. Managers and coworkers may mentally cloak pregnant women and new mothers in a haze of femininity, assuming they will be empathetic, emotional, gentle, nonaggressive—that is, not very good at business. If these women shine through the haze and remain tough, cool, emphatic, and committed to their jobs, colleagues may indict them for being insufficiently maternal. Compounding the problem, managers can from the most benevolent of motives deny mothers the chance to shine. Not wanting to separate mother and child, supervisors may rethink the new parent’s responsibilities, eliminating travel or projects that require long hours. Employers can even end up indirectly meddling in what should be private, family decisions. One manager began sending a new mother home at 5:30—she had a child to take care of. But he gave her husband extra work that required him to stay late—the father now had a family to support. Though the manager meant well, he created workplace pressures that all but forced the couple into traditional gender roles they might not have chosen for themselves. Maternal stereotyping is not only a career problem for women; increasingly, it is also a legal problem for employers. American University’s Program on WorkLife Law has identified more than 40 cases—some involving substantial monetary rewards—in which courts ruled in favor of plaintiffs contesting employers’ treatment of family caregivers. Most cases involve mothers, but some involve fathers or adults caring for ailing parents or spouses. In April, a landmark federal case, Back v. Hastings-on-Hudson Union Free School District, held that an employer who assumed that a mother was less committed to her job because of home responsibilities was engaging in potentially illegal gender stereotyping. What is an employer to do? Including parental and caregiver status in antidiscrimination policies and educating supervisors about what constitutes caregiver discrimination are good first steps. Examining hiring, attendance, and promotion policies to make sure they are free from biased standards is also important. Thinking flexibly about how job duties can be accomplished and making personnel decisions based on legitimate business needs rather than on assumptions about commitment and productivity will also help prevent lawsuits. Employers can protect themselves both by eliminating stereotypes about caregivers from personnel decisions and by proactively creating programs that support all employees’ caregiving needs.

The Maternal Wall

Summary.

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