Catch-22: Token Women Trying to Reconcile Impossible Contradictions between Organisational and Societal Expectations

Maryam Aldossari; Sara  Chaudhry; Ahu  Tatli; Cathrine  Seierstad

doi:10.1177/09500170211035940

Catch-22: Token Women Trying to Reconcile Impossible Contradictions between Organisational and Societal Expectations

Maryam Aldossari^*, Sara Chaudhry, Ahu Tatli, Cathrine Seierstad

^*Corresponding author for this work

Work & Organisation

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Extending tokenism theory, and Kanter’s work on numerical representation within organisations, we emphasise the societal context of gender inequality in order to understand token women’s lived experiences at work. Based on analysis of 29 in-depth interviews in a multinational (MNC) situated in the distinctive socio-institutional setting of Saudi Arabia, the article expands Kanter’s typology of roles, to capture token assimilation in a context-embedded way. In particular, we explore the interaction of a seemingly Western MNC espousing liberal values, rules and norms with the enduring patriarchal and traditional context of Saudi Arabia. Further adding texture to Kanter’s theory, this study reveals that the organisational context cannot be seen as fundamentally neutral and inevitably interacts with the societal context, resulting in unique manifestations of tokenism.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-19
Journal	Work, Employment and Society
Early online date	17 Dec 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170211035940 https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170211035940
Publication status	Published - 17 Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

© The Author(s) 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Keywords

context
gender inequality
patriarchy
role traps
Saudi Arabia
tokenism

Access to Document

10.1177/09500170211035940Licence: CC BY 4.0
10.1177/09500170211035940Licence: CC BY 3.0

Catch-22: Token Women Trying to Reconcile Impossible Contradictions between Organisational and Societal Expectations
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Final published version, 237 KBLicence: CC BY 3.0

https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/72998

Cite this

@article{4e431843ced545889e26a96054e57cda,

title = "Catch-22: Token Women Trying to Reconcile Impossible Contradictions between Organisational and Societal Expectations",

abstract = "Extending tokenism theory, and Kanter{\textquoteright}s work on numerical representation within organisations, we emphasise the societal context of gender inequality in order to understand token women{\textquoteright}s lived experiences at work. Based on analysis of 29 in-depth interviews in a multinational (MNC) situated in the distinctive socio-institutional setting of Saudi Arabia, the article expands Kanter{\textquoteright}s typology of roles, to capture token assimilation in a context-embedded way. In particular, we explore the interaction of a seemingly Western MNC espousing liberal values, rules and norms with the enduring patriarchal and traditional context of Saudi Arabia. Further adding texture to Kanter{\textquoteright}s theory, this study reveals that the organisational context cannot be seen as fundamentally neutral and inevitably interacts with the societal context, resulting in unique manifestations of tokenism.",

keywords = "context, gender inequality, patriarchy, role traps, Saudi Arabia, tokenism",

author = "Maryam Aldossari and Sara Chaudhry and Ahu Tatli and Cathrine Seierstad",

note = "{\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).",

year = "2021",

month = dec,

day = "17",

doi = "10.1177/09500170211035940",

language = "English",

pages = "1--19",

journal = "Work, Employment and Society",

issn = "0950-0170",

publisher = "SAGE",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Catch-22: Token Women Trying to Reconcile Impossible Contradictions between Organisational and Societal Expectations

AU - Aldossari, Maryam

AU - Chaudhry, Sara

AU - Tatli, Ahu

AU - Seierstad, Cathrine

N1 - © The Author(s) 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

PY - 2021/12/17

Y1 - 2021/12/17

N2 - Extending tokenism theory, and Kanter’s work on numerical representation within organisations, we emphasise the societal context of gender inequality in order to understand token women’s lived experiences at work. Based on analysis of 29 in-depth interviews in a multinational (MNC) situated in the distinctive socio-institutional setting of Saudi Arabia, the article expands Kanter’s typology of roles, to capture token assimilation in a context-embedded way. In particular, we explore the interaction of a seemingly Western MNC espousing liberal values, rules and norms with the enduring patriarchal and traditional context of Saudi Arabia. Further adding texture to Kanter’s theory, this study reveals that the organisational context cannot be seen as fundamentally neutral and inevitably interacts with the societal context, resulting in unique manifestations of tokenism.

AB - Extending tokenism theory, and Kanter’s work on numerical representation within organisations, we emphasise the societal context of gender inequality in order to understand token women’s lived experiences at work. Based on analysis of 29 in-depth interviews in a multinational (MNC) situated in the distinctive socio-institutional setting of Saudi Arabia, the article expands Kanter’s typology of roles, to capture token assimilation in a context-embedded way. In particular, we explore the interaction of a seemingly Western MNC espousing liberal values, rules and norms with the enduring patriarchal and traditional context of Saudi Arabia. Further adding texture to Kanter’s theory, this study reveals that the organisational context cannot be seen as fundamentally neutral and inevitably interacts with the societal context, resulting in unique manifestations of tokenism.

KW - context

KW - gender inequality

KW - patriarchy

KW - role traps

KW - Saudi Arabia

KW - tokenism

UR - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09500170211035940

U2 - 10.1177/09500170211035940

DO - 10.1177/09500170211035940

M3 - Article

SP - 1

EP - 19

JO - Work, Employment and Society

JF - Work, Employment and Society

SN - 0950-0170

ER -

Catch-22: Token Women Trying to Reconcile Impossible Contradictions between Organisational and Societal Expectations

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Embargoed Document

Fingerprint

Cite this