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Women still face barriers that delay their upward mobility in organisations. This study aims to examine whether women experience critical mass as sufficient to shift deep level discursive dynamics, theorised as an (in)visibility Vortex.

A qualitative method was used to collect and analyse data on the lived experiences of 16 board-level female leaders who have been appointed to male-dominated boardrooms in South Africa.

The findings confirm that numeric representation is too simplistic to resolve deep level gendered dynamics. At a personal level: self-confidence, a bigger purpose and competence-experience were found to be counter-forces to Vortex. The role of the chairperson was also crucial.

Organisations must be reminded that even where the number of women on a board has reached beyond a critical mass, hidden barriers still exist. When developing women leaders, practitioners need to penetrate below the surface to appreciate the undercurrents and address them at that level. Organisations need to nurture the personal attributes that counter the forces of the Vortex. Mentorship, sponsorship and coaching may be beneficial. The role of the chairperson is especially important in disrupting deep level dynamics. Chairpersons need to be more deliberate and proactive to refute behaviours that exclude and undermine women’s full participation.

Contrary to the (in)visibility perspectives, the women in this study did not “withdraw” or “conceal” their gender when “exposed” in male-dominated boardroom dynamics. Reasons for this are explored including the potential for further research on the construction of a “trailblazing” identity.

In my article I describe the experiences I have had as a social housing tenant. In particular, I document my struggles as a black disabled woman to be recognised as an intelligent human being and tenant in my own right. I am writing this so that other disabled tenants will be encouraged to fight for their rights. I also want housing staff to use this article to reflect on their and their organisation's practice.

Service user involvement is called for at every level of NHS delivery in the United Kingdom (UK). This article describes a model of service user participation in the development of mental health nurse curricula in a UK university. Using a research model of participatory action research, the Participation In Nurse Education (PINE) project has now become mainstream in the mental health branches at the university. Service users led the design and implementation of the teaching sessions and led the data collection and analysis. Research participants were the service user trainers and the student nurses who were involved in being taught in the early stages of the project. The benefits of the work to both trainers and students are identified as well as some of the difficulties.

This paper aims to focus on the experiences and observations of a black disabled woman in the UK.

The paper is a personal commentary from a black disabled woman who uses health and social care services in the UK. It details the author's disability and some recent barriers that she has faced in using services.

The author gives some examples of her recent experiences in relation to employment, independent living, healthcare providers and getting her wheelchair repaired.

The paper offers the unique perspective of a service user on UK health and social care services.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the use of intersectionality theory in research with gender and sexual minorities – that is, with lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) people, and lesser-studied groups such as two-spirited people.

First, the paper note the limited way that LGBTQ research has taken up issues of intersecting oppression. The paper outlines why theoretical and methodological attention to overlapping oppressions is important, and why theorists of intersectionality have identified the additive model as inadequate. The paper presents a sketch of current best practices for intersectional research, notes special issues for intersectional research arising within qualitative and quantitative paradigms, and finishes with an overview of how these issues are taken up in this special issue of Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care.

Current best practices for intersectional research include. Bringing a critical political lens to data analyses; contextualizing findings in light of systemic oppressions; strategically using both additive and multivariate regression models; and bringing a conscious awareness of the limitations of current methods to our analyses.

This paper addresses the use of intersectionality theory in research with gender and sexual minorities, highlighting methodological issues associated with qualitative and quantitative paradigms in LGBTQ research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement (GFA) through the lens of sport, particularly football, and with reference to theoretical literature on peace-making processes.

The paper is structured in such a way as to review theoretical literature, to consider the nature of the Northern Ireland problem and its implications for sport, to critique the current settlement and to demonstrate its failings using sport as an exemplar. The methods used are a critical review of relevant literature combined with reflections on the author's own involvement in sport and community relations.

The paper argues that the GFA has resulted in a consociational “solution” to the Northern Ireland problem. The example of sport, and especially the standing of the Northern Ireland football team, indicates that such a settlement fails to address the central problem of two divided communities with different political aspirations and attitudes towards national identity.

The analysis is limited to the extent that it adopts an essentially top down approach. The findings deserve to be confirmed (or indeed refuted) at some future point by a gathering data from football fans and others. However, the implications are that the terms of the GFA should be revisited in the light of evidence of the failings of the current settlement not only as found in this paper but based on recent political developments.

The Irish Football Association has to address the perception that appears prevalent amongst some Catholic players that they are not wanted by the national association. Politicians need to renew their efforts to create greater mutual understanding instead of fooling themselves that so long as they can talk to each other, the communities they represent will remain peaceful.

I doubt if any academic author has had the same degree of involvement in relation to the role of sport in the Northern Ireland peace process. What gives the paper its particular value, however, is the fact that it is probably unique in looking at sport in Northern Ireland with specific reference to political science peace-making literature.

Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.