ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the comparison of second-generation Irish female experience with that of their second-generation West Indian female peers in order to establish that there is a case for arguing for an evaluation of gender within specific cultural contexts. The fundamental difference between the two groups, other than the obvious one of colour, is the distinct history, culture and hence ethnic identity of each group. The chapter examines the contemporary characteristics of each of the two distinct cultural constructions of femininity. Ironically, the dynamic that has produced this equality between the sexes within the black social structure has been the external imposition of oppression and brutality. African Caribbean societies in the Caribbean and in industrialised capitalist settings have not simply replicated the western pattern of sexual stratification. And unlike the self-limiting negative sexual identities the Euro-American women have had to struggle with, female identity in Endeavour is associated with highly valued cultural attributes.
