ABSTRACT
Race and gender should be central to all aspects of groupwork research, theory, policy and practice. This chapter indicates the significance of race and gender in groupwork and how this may be taken into account in groupwork practice. The consideration of race and gender is set in the wider conceptual context of the social discrimination and oppression of many categories of people in our society and how this affects group process and the task of the groupworker. The term 'black' is used frequently in the chapter to refer to people in Britain who because the colour of their skin is 'non-white' often experience racial discrimination: personally, culturally and institutionally. This is their common experience of racism, whether in small groups or other contexts in the wider society. However, this umbrella term includes people from many different cultures, languages and religions, as well as people who are of mixed parentage and/or bi-cultural in origin.
