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

Leadership and Management

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

20 Citations (SciVal)

25 Downloads (Pure)

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).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 5 Gender Equality
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

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

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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.",

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

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

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