Tokenism Reconsidered: Male Nurses and Female Physicians in a Hospital Setting

This paper examines haw gender as a status characteristic interacts with the effects of tokenism in two occupations. Data were gathered by observation and interviewing at two hospitals, each having both male nurses and female physicians. On the basis of expectation states theory, we hypothesized that the occupational advancement of males would be aided, rather than hindered, by the perceptual tendencies arising from tokenism. Our findings indicate gender does interact with tokenism, resulting in more positive outcomes for men and more negative outcomes for women. However, we found that in any particular situation the importance of tokenism, and its interactions with gender, will vary depending on several organizational and occupational factors we identify.