The article proposes a critical reading of the design of maternity protection focused on the protection of working mothers and shows evidence of its adverse effect due to the ineffectiveness of the anti-discrimination norms in employment hiring procedures. Secondly, and resorting to field work with workers and employers in the garment manufacturing sector in Colombia, it provides evidence of the anti-maternal and anti-caring practices that characterize some sectors of formal work in the country and that end up excluding women workers who are mothers or who have care responsibilities.