Over the summer I worked as a server at a restaurant that was male dominated. I was the only female working at the restaurant. The kitchen were all men, the wait staff were all men, and my manager was also a male. Women who work for larger male dominated businesses deserve a lot of credit for achieving the position they earned, because it can be very difficult as a woman to break into a field that is male dominated. “A new study finds that women who work with mostly men suffer negative effects in their brain chemistry.” -Megan Friedman.  This theory is called Tokenism.  Tokenism is when someone is recruited to work for a company because they are a part of an underrepresented group or a group that is unrepresented entirely. “This is in order to give the appearance of sexual equality in a workforce. The token doesn’t have to work hard to be noticed, but she does have to work hard to have her achievements noticed. When a field has less than 15 percent female workers, it can negatively affect the female workers and the work that they are doing.”- According to the American Sociological Association. “A female working with mostly men can have fluctuating hormonal issues, such as fluctuating cortisol.” -American Sociological Association. “Women who are considered ‘tokens’ at work have less healthy patterns of cortisol throughout the day” (Friedman). There are a few other factors that can also play into this study. Women who don’t have other female companions to rely on or relate to in the workplace can add to feelings of loneliness and isolation, which equates to not being as productive in the workplace. A woman working with all men can feel slightly out of place and inherently lesser or less confident than the men she’s working with, solely because men can naturally be more dominant, authoritative, and respected in the workplace. In some cases, people subconsciously doubt that women can keep up with the men. Sexual harassment in the workplace has always been a problem for women, but can be increased when the employees are mostly male and there is only one woman. “All that stress leads to a cortisol imbalance in your brain, which can make you vulnerable to disease.” -Researchers at Indiana University. “The discrimination that token women workers face is the kind that first comes to mind when we consider sexism on the job: difficulties getting hired, earning promotions, and getting respect from supervisors and colleagues. These obstacles come from within the job itself, either from its basic organizational structure or from the people in it” (Newman and Smith). From personal experience, I understand the difference in atmosphere in a workplace when it is completely male dominated as opposed to an equal representation of the sexes. I don’t believe that the difference caused me stress, but I do believe that in some cases, women can have a difficult time working in such environments because of the stress that it can cause.