I was intrigued by Caputo and Cianni's longitudinal labor market study on the job training of a cohort of black women and white women in the workforce in the 1970s and 1980s. The authors' exploration of the differences in the experience of black women and white women led to some interesting findings. For example, it is encouraging that the overall percentage of women who participated in training doubled over the two decades of the study and that black women made gains in their access to and participation in all types of training, especially non-OJT management/professional programs. In contrast was the decreasing participation of black women in training compared with that of white women and the fact that less than half of working women were engaged in training at midcareer. This research provides HRD practitioners with a historical profile of the cohort of women now at midcareer in the workforce and information on the demographic characteristics, such as race and family status, that may influence their education.
However, it would have been helpful if Caputo and Cianni had placed the experience of this cohort into a general social context so as to create a framework for understanding these and other study results and their implications for the future. Although these researchers indicate that the experience of their cohort sample may not reflect the conditions facing other cohorts, they do not ameliorate the situation by providing information on societal trends or interpreting study results in context. For example, what was going on in the labor market, the women's movement, the economy of the nation and the world? What legislation and social trends were influencing business practices? The authors do help us understand some of the current changes in the American work environment and workforce. However, unless the reader can appreciate the social subtext of the research, it is difficult to relate current and future practice to the results.
I wonder if the focus on providing HRD practitioners with some useful information on job training for women led Caputo and Cianni to ignore what I think is the most interesting aspect of the study: creating a historical sociological perspective on women's relationship with the workplace. It seemed as