Maternal Wall

Wage Gap

Because motherhood creates distinct disadvantages against mothers in the labor market, understanding the maternal wall requires analyzing the discrimination against mothers separate from discrimination against women in general. For example, while the wage gap between men and women has fallen in last two decades, the wage gap between mothers and others has widened. In terms of the difference between mothers and fathers, Williams and Joan Segal, in Beyond the Maternal Wall, argue that mothers still earn 60 percent of what working fathers earn, while the wage gap between childless women and men has decreased. Motherhood and caregiving responsibilities, then, are increasingly responsible for the wage gap between mothers and fathers.

Consequently, in Unbending Gender, Williams argues that the maternal wall is a result of persistent family gender roles that continue to position women as the primary caregivers of children, rather than fathers. Williams also argues that the maternal wall is composed of professional practices that marginalize and discriminate against anyone who takes parental leave or takes on the traditional feminine role of caregiving. Because, however, women continue to be primarily responsible for caregiving of children, the maternal wall affects far more women then men.

Williams contends that the maternal wall exists because professional life continues to be premised on ideal-worker norms. All market work, but especially executive and professional work, is fundamentally organized around workers who work full time, are willing and able to work overtime, and who take little or no time off for childcare and/or family responsibilities. In short, standard worker norms assume the “ideal unencumbered worker” without family obligations. In Unbending Gender, Williams argues that three related professional practices also maintain the maternal wall: the executive schedule, the marginalization of part-time workers, and the expectation that executives will relocate themselves and their families to advance. The executive schedule, which demands from 50 to 80 hours a week at work, drives many women off the executive track because it is impossible to meet both family needs and work the long hours required.

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