Why Welcoming Your Identity But Not Your Ability Can Be a Covert Form of Discrimination [Research Breakdown]

There’s a lot of evidence to show that discrimination of all kinds exists in organisations.

Find out why it’s often hard to identity or intervene.

Here are some key messages from this episode:

• Why tokenism is so common
• Why Tokenism undermines inclusive strategies
• The reason your employee resource groups may be used as a form of tokenism and much much more

Play the episode for more.

Here are some key takeaways from this episode:

Tokenism suggests a lack of Diversity & Inclusion

“I’ve heard of examples where an individual is “invited” to participate in special events or initiatives when they may not hold the necessary expertise. These tend to be high profile events and their involvement served to increase the credibility of the initiative by portraying a culture that embraces diversity. The need for such practices suggests the opposite and actually undermines inclusive strategies “

Tokenism can mean Unnecessary Help

“In these scenarios, their training and competencies are disregarded and unnecessary support is provided because of prejudice about them being ethnic rather than professional. This legitimises the ethnicity of the individual but delegitimises their professional competencies”

Employee Resource Groups can be Tokens

“Organisations can start to claim that they are inclusive because their website shows employee resource groups or they wheel them out during International Women’s Day or Inclusion Week. Under these circumstances, the abilities of these individuals is not welcome, it’s their identity that is favoured and this is a problem. That’s one of the many reasons why having an effective employee resource really matters. Resource groups should be aware that they may be used as tokens, especially if they are perceived to be ineffective”

Here are some selected links to for the resources and reports I discuss in the episode.

Here are some resources so you can go deeper: 

Professor Koen Van Lear

Professor Maddy Janssens

Ethnic minority professionals’ experiences with subtle discrimination in the workplace

Check out these related episodes of the show.

Covert Discrimination Part 1: Garlic Bread & The Normalising Gaze

Covert Discrimination Part 2: Qualified Compliments & Masked Prejudice

Whenever you’re ready, there are a few ways I can support your Inclusion Journey: