Tokenism at work is the exploitation of someone’s identity in order to check a diversity box. Companies need to have diverse talent to appear to be inclusive, so they hire only one person of one gender or race to smooth that wrinkle.

But here’s the rub (and it’s a big one): Hiring just one person of any underrepresented demographic is a band-aid “solution” to a systemic problem. It isolates the employee and increases focus on that person’s actions, often making them out to be the representative of their gender or race. Tokenism can lead to imposter syndrome, stress, and further discrimination. And even when there’s more than one woman or one person of color in a company’s leadership, if they don’t have any real power, then that’s tokenism as well.

Let’s explore what tokenism is, its prevalence in today’s society, and how it impacts our industries and workplaces.

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