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The current issue of Vocational Training, Information Bulletin No 2/3, published by the Commission of the European Communities, contains two interesting items on women's employment. The first of these, by Deborah King, is reproduced in full below. The second item appears on page 15 under the heading ‘A survey of the situation and problems concerning the education, training and employment of women in the EEC’. This is a lengthy treatment of the subject, running to 18 pages of A4, of which we have reproduced the summary here. Although we now have equal opportunities legislation and sex discrimination legislation, the reports highlight areas in which there is much room for improvement — for example in the provision of day care facilities for children. Lack of this provision can be one of the main factors preventing a woman from returning to work while her family is young, yet where is the lobby for day nurseries in the UK? The report also draws attention to the hidden pool of female unemployment. Many married women who would enter employment if suitable job opportunities existed are unemployed, yet they do not claim unemployment benefit and so do not appear in the statistics. Readers wishing to read this report in full can obtain single copies of the Bulletin, price 65p, from HMSO, PO Box 569, London SE1 9NH. 01–928 6977, ext 365. The Bulletin appears four times a year and a subscription costs £2.00. When ordering, it is necessary to specify in which language you wish to receive the publication.

The paper proposes presenting a bibliography of the literary works of St Lucia, excluding the writings of Derek Walcott.

Several bibliographies and regional catalogues were consulted to identify the items of poetry, drama and fiction. The data were compiled and annotated. Further analysis was done to ascertain the major themes and publication patterns.

It was noted that the writers prefer the medium of poetry to express themselves and many of the publications were self‐published works.

The bibliography can be used to expand the Caribbean literary canon and embark on new discussion of Caribbean literature.

The new White Paper on out‐of‐hospital and adult social care seems destined to bring new opportunities and challenges ‐ or are they new? Reflection on policy since the Griffiths Report of 1988 suggests that they may have been with us for some time. Services that are person‐centred, allow more choice and control, are community‐based and are provided by a wider range of providers, including the independent sector, are ever‐present themes. How will the apparent barriers to implementation be overcome this time? Actions will speak louder than words in bringing about lasting change.

Over the past fifteen years, many organisations have restructured and, in the process, reduced their workforces dramatically. Some of this re‐engineering has been due to such influences as global competition, economic uncertainty, technological change, government deregulation as well as a growing demand for better and faster goods and services. The overall effect of such “downsizing” has not always resulted in desirable outcomes. What lessons have been learned? Are managers using these lessons to reshape organisational strategies, especially those dealing with human resource management?

As the First Lady, Michelle Obama stated that she had a number of priorities but that the first year would be mainly about supporting her two girls in their transitions to their new life in the White House. Her choice to be mom-in-chief drew unusually intense and rather puzzling, scrutiny. The chapter briefly discusses the range of reactions along the political spectrum as well as African-American feminists’ analyses of the stereotypes of Black women underlying those reactions. This analysis engages the debates from a different perspective. First, the chapter addresses the under-theorizing of the racialized gender norms embedded in the symbolism of the White House and the role of First Lady. It challenges the presumption of traditional notions of true womanhood and the incorrect conclusion that mothering would preclude public engagement.

Second and most importantly, this chapter argues that there are fundamental misunderstandings of what mothering meant for Michelle Obama as African-American woman. Cultural traditions and socio-historical conditions have led Black women, both relatives and non-kin, to form mothering relationships with others’ children and to appreciate the interdependence of “nurturing” one's own children, other children, and entire communities. Those practitioners whose nurturing activities encompassed commitment and contributions to the collectivity were referred to as community othermothering. Using primary sources, this chapter examines in detail Michelle Obama's socialization for and her practice of community othermothering in her role as First Lady. Attention is focused on her transformation of White House events by extending hospitality to more within Washington, DC, and the nation, plus broadening young people's exposure to inspiration, opportunities, and support for setting and accomplishing their dreams. Similarly, the concept of community othermothering is also used to explain Michelle Obama’s reinterpretation of the traditional First Lady's special project into the ambitious “Let's Move” initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation. The othermothering values and endeavors have helped establish the White House as “the People's House.”

Purpose – This chapter reflects on the interpretation and effects of the term intersectionality within the academy and across a broad spectrum of institutional and grassroots environments in which it is operationalized and deployed.

Design/methodology/approach – Based on the authors’ experiences within the academy and their respective participation as researchers and organizers within feminist, queer, and racial and economic justice movements, the chapter surveys the rhetorical, political, and organizational uses of intersectionality across these realms.

Findings – Five general challenges to intersectional practice are identified and described: misidentification, appropriation, institutionalization, reification, and operationalization. The authors trace these challenges across the academy, grassroots movements, and nonprofit organizations.

Originality/value – Offers a new articulation of intersectional practice as the application of scholarly or social movement methodologies aimed at intersectional and sustainable social justice outcomes.

On a brisk day in Springfield, Illinois, an attractive African-American family stood on the steps of the Illinois Old State Capitol waving to a rapturous and diverse audience of Americans following the family's patriarch's announcement that he would run for the presidency of the United States of America. Standing in the shadows of the legislative building where he worked and the adopted hometown of President Abraham Lincoln who was known as the “Great Emancipator” of the slaves, the symbolism was lost on no one. By announcing his candidacy, he was entering one of the most competitive and diverse fields of presidential candidates in the history of the nation, including its first female and first Latino candidates. When the freshman Illinois senator, Barack Hussein Obama decided to make a bid for the presidency, many Americans were surprised and fascinated with the possibility of its first African-American leader. Older Americans, especially African Americans, had clear knowledge and some personal memories of the national history replete with the vestiges of slavery, the Civil War, and a failed Reconstruction Era in the forms of de jure segregation in the South and de facto segregation throughout the rest of the country. Despite the progress made as a result of the legislation emanating from the activism of the 1960s civil rights movement, this history created a socio-cultural narrative rife with prejudice, racism, and discrimination. Consequently, the nation's race relations narrative was fraught with the tensions between its majority and minorities.

Feminist perspectives from women of color did not emerge solely as a result from racism in the white feminist movements; such an assumption negates the agency of feminists of color (Roth, 2004). Instead, feminist perspectives by women of color emerged from historical and sociopolitical dynamics within their own communities of origin, as well as in relationship to each other, including in opposition to, and at times in concert with, the white feminist movements. This chapter explores the development, complexities, and unique contributions of Womanist, Black Feminist Thought, hip-hop, Chicana, Native American, global, Asian American, Arab American and ecofeminism. These feminist perspectives include overarching themes, such as the intersectionality of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, ability, age, religion, nationality, and other important identities and issues. Each contemporary feminist theory also explores the interstices of issues such as education, health, economics, reproduction, sociopolitical, historical, organizational, technological, and myriad interrelated dynamics.

This article looks at girls who fight in order to evaluate theories of education for marginalized girls. As oppositional culture and educational resistance theories suggest for boys’ misconduct in school, girl fights are found to be a product of deindustrialization, family expectations, and peer culture. Within peer groups of marginalized students an oppositional culture develops such that girls gain respect from their peers by fighting because they demonstrate a necessary toughness. Girls who fight have a complicated relationship to education. Contrary to oppositional culture theory, these girls value educational achievement. However, the girls’ relationships with teachers are strained. Teachers do not appreciate “tough” girls. Race, class, and gender together construct a student culture that produces girls who fight in school.