A Token for Your Thoughts? Perceptions of Tokenism Among Female Corrections Executives

• DOI: 10.1177/0734016820902259
• Author: Kimberly Collica-Cox,Dorothy M. Schulz
• Published date: 01 September 2020
• Date: 01 September 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

A Token for Your Thoughts?

Perceptions of Tokenism Among

Female Corrections Executives

Kimberly Collica-Cox

1

and Dorothy M. Schulz

2

Abstract

The increasing number of women corrections executives indicates improvement in their oppor-

tunities for career advancement. This article examines the perceptions of women in corrections

supervisory and management ranks regarding their opportunities for continuing upward mobility,

whether they or their peers view them as tokens and whether those views may impact their

decisions to pursue promotion up to and including wardens or corrections administrators. Based on

surveys and interviews with members of the Association of Women Executives in Corrections, this

study found that most women felt promotional opportunities were equally available for men and

women. The women did not report feeling the isolation associated with tokenism, but they did

report feeling high levels of visibility. Despite facing aspects of tokenism, they were not deterred

from seeking advancement, and they noted that each subsequent promotion after the first one

presented fewer problems for them and for their organizations.

Keywords

women corrections executives, promotion, tokenism, wardens, upward mobility

Presently, 18%of state corrections agencies are led by women (Collica-Cox & Schulz, 2018).

Almost 50 years after women walked through the gates of men’s prisons, there are a sufficient

number of women corrections executives to conduct a meaningful study on factors, such as

tokenism, that restrict, but do not preclude, their ability to achieve promotion (Collica-Cox &

Schulz, 2019b). Tokenism explains how numerical minorities in the workplace impact group

dynamics and negatively affect the token, in this case women, who are employed in a traditionally

male-dominated environment.

With the hiring of the initial prison matron in 1822, corrections became the first criminal justice

profession open to women (Belknap, 2007). Since their only interest was working with women in

sex-segregated facilities, men had no reason to feel threatened professionally by their presence

1

Criminal Justice and Security, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, PACE University, New York, NY, USA

2

Law, Police Studies and Criminal Justice Administration, John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY), New York, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Kimberly Collica-Cox, Criminal Justice and Security, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, PACE University, 41 Park Row,

11th Floor/Room 1126, New York, NY 10038, USA.

Email: kcollicacox@pace.edu

Criminal Justice Review

2020, Vol. 45(3) 337-357

ª2020 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/0734016820902259

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(Schulz, 1995). At that time, tokenism, a concept introduced by Kanter (1977), was not problematic

because there were few women who served in titled executive positions of sex-integrated facilities

prior to the 1970s. When Title VII of the Civil Rights Act opened more doors for women to work in

sex-integrated institutions with men (Maghan & McLeish-Blackwell, 1991), these new opportunities

presented women with different challenges including gender harassment, sexual harassment, and

overcoming the effects of token status (Martin, 1996).

Previous studies have examined the effects of tokenism on women in policing (e.g., Archbold

et al., 2010), but there is a paucity of research examining the effects of tokenism on women in

corrections. This neglected area warrants further examination. Prior research on this subject is based

largely on anecdotal evidence; hence, there is a need for empirical study (Collica-Cox & Schulz,

2019a). This study examines whether tokenism is perceived by women corrections executives as a

factor which impacts their ability to achieve promotion to the executive ranks. Based on surveys and

interviews with members of the Association of Women Executives in Corrections (AWEC), this

study found that most women felt promotional opportunities were as available to them as to men.

The women in this study did not report feeling the sense of isolation traditionally associated with

tokenism, although they did report that they were subject to high levels of visibility, this did not deter

them from seeking advancement. Study implications raise an important issue—despite facing ele-

ments of tokenism during the promotion process, the women indicated that each level of promotion

presented fewer negative problems, allowing them ultimately to advance to a more equal playing

field with their male peers.

Literature Review

Womenfacemanychallengeswhenattemptingtomoveupinrankinmale-dominatedfields.

Overcoming gender bias can be one of those challenges. Gender bias within the workplace can take

many forms including exclusion from work culture, gender harassment, or sexual harassment (Mar-

tin, 1996). It might also include being perceived as less effective than a male counterpart, or when

promoted, being perceived as a “token,” meaning the individual obtained the position because of her

sex, rather than for her skills, and because of the agency’s need to appear open to a broader range of

candidates than only men. Many of the studies pertaining to women criminal justice professionals

examine the promotional difficulties they experience in policing; these issues are not dissimilar from

those women looking to advance in most corrections departments (Collica-Cox & Schulz, 2019b).

However, there is a lack of specific research on women in corrections, tokenism, and its impact on

career advancement.

Kanter’s Tokenism

Tokenism research, based on Kanter’s (1977) study of women in the business setting, focused on

how being a minority (i.e., less than 15%of the workforce in a particular organization) contributed to

promotional barriers.

Skewed sex ratios in a workplace shape group dynamics and negatively affect the token (defined as the

few among many). Kanter described one of the effects of tokenism as higher visibility for the token

group; an exaggeration of the token’s differences from the larger group as appearing greater than it may

actually be, and that the token’s qualities are distorted to fit preexisting opinions of them (Collica-Cox &

Schulz, 2019b, pp. 91–92).

Simply put: When too few women are employed by an organization, they become too visible. This

heightened visibility creates increased performance pressures and leads to increased scrutiny,

338 Criminal Justice Review 45(3)