The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure - Volume 7, Issue 2.

Although some of the factors might be interrelated for example, Occupational Segregation and part-time work there is a strong possibility that discrimination is embedded not only in the policies, processes and systems of the occupational structure, but also within factors associated in the past with the acquisition of education, training and work experience.

Our second paper attempts to examine the role of gender in the internet relationships individuals have. This research used semi-structured interviews to identity reasons behind why people liberate themselves from their gendered identities in cyberspace.

Findings suggested that people gender-switch online because: they are able to explore the fragmented nature of their identities; they experience some of the power that comes with becoming a member of the opposite sex; they have a great deal of control whilst in cyberspace and experiment with this control; the absence of the physical body makes it possible for people to gender-switch and the people that are most likely to gender-switch are cross-dressers. The findings generally concluded that in cyberspace, people can liberate themselves from their gendered identities, despite some discussion into the constraints that occur.

Our third paper examines the current Labour government's target to have 70% of all lone parents in employment by 2010. The UK government has introduced welfare to work policies to help achieve this target, such as the New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP). This piece of research looks at the current employment status of a sample of lone mothers and explores whether such policy initiatives have had an impact on their lives in regards to employment. Overall it was found that there may be issues regarding the success of the programme with at present not being able to make lone mothers aware of it in the first place. However, the deal itself was associated with various positive outcomes on mothers employment status. Employment of lone mothers is a complex topic, they make a diverse social group, government and other relevant organisations have to bare this in mind when designing such employment policies directed at lone mothers in future.

Our final paper examines healthy eating as a major concern for public health. Initially, this study examines the trends of contemporary food culture by sociologists and the marketing powers of promotion to increase student awareness on healthy eating. A discussion on Government policies indicates the efficacy of the Government to reach students with their healthy eating promotion in this country. This study uses qualitative research methods to determine the awareness of the students, on healthy eating and their opinions on the Government’s attempt to promote a healthy nation.

Based on the data gathered in this research, an evaluation was made on whether healthy eating promotion is effective in today’s student society. In this study, student choices of food were shown to be primarily affected by price, taste and peer pressure. This is in contrast with the available literature which suggests that social class, culture, the food industries and Government campaigns are the main influences on people’s eating habits.

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