Tokenism is referred to the practice of hiring only a limited number of underrepresented people into a workforce as a symbolic act to appear inclusive. The approach of hiring token employees is done by organizations in order to portray diversity (racial, sexual, or religious), social inclusiveness, and to avoid accusations of discrimination. In recent years, tokenism has become a widespread practice by security institutions. Underrepresented groups, in particular women and people with a migrant background, have been hired in order to come across progressive. However, often times the token employee is extremely challenged because of increased performance pressure, limited career opportunities, and feelings of exposure or isolation. Various social justice studies have shown that tokenism is counterproductive because it does not address the issue of discrimination or gender inequality. Therefore, organizations need to be careful when hiring only a selected number of underrepresented people. They should focus on providing an inclusive institutional culture through equal participation and decision-making power.
If you wish to learn more about tokenism in security institutions please see the attached Master Thesis “Token Female Police Officers or Police Exemplars: An Evaluation of the Theory of Tokenism” by Cameron M. Harper for the Illinois State University, Department of Criminal Justice Sciences.
The thesis can be found here.
References:
Meghan S. Stroshine, Steven G. Brandl. “Race, Gender, and Tokenism in
Policing: An Empirical Elaboration” Police Quarterly, Vol 14, Issue 4,
pp. 344 - 365, First Published October 5, 2011,
https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611111423738
Aisha Fofana Ibrahim, Alex Sivalie Mbayo and Rosaline Mcarthy,
"Integrating Gender in Security Sector Reform and Governance", in
Ornella Moderan (ed.) Toolkit for Security Sector Reform and
Governance in West Africa (Geneva: DCAF, 2015)
