ABSTRACT
Gender and race interconnect in the workplace in a complex way, and this chapter considers how they interconnect in the development of a collective identity. It suggests that even where women workers have shared interests, racial divisions are crucial in hindering that development. The chapter considers race and employment in the National health service, and discusses the role of race in the construction and the reconstruction of work. It considers the interconnections between race and gender divisions among working-class women, and focuses on women of Asian origin. Given the general patterns of recruitment, the most significant feature was the lack of employment of women of Asian origin at City Centre Hospital. If Asian women are significantly more likely to be working full-time, and the main impetus of the restructuring of women's jobs has been the shift from full-time to part-time working, then restructuring cannot be understood without reference to racial divisions.
