Hungarian nurses in pandemic : An unintended attention widening inequalities

Abstract

Hungary, like many other countries all around the world, was hit hard by the pandemic. The COVID situation made essential workers more visible, and they became both the center of media attention in the general political discourse as well. There is a visible wage inequality even among essential workers, nurses working all day and night to try to save as many people as possible are on the bottom line. Additionally, this occupation is highly gender segregated, globally 70% are women. One of the quickly spreading international trends was a symbolic gesture for clapping for them to show recognition and support in the street and on balconies every day around 7 pm to show recognition and support, which also became popular in Hungary. With half structured in-depth interviews with open ended questions from women nurses working in hospitals around the country-moving on from symbolic recognition - I am looking to find an answer to the question of what kind of changes were experienced by the nurses during the pandemic, considering their job and working environment. I am interested to know the effect on media attention, if there is any change created by the 20% pay rise, and how in general the nurses see their experiences with this job and whether they believe in a robust change after the pandemic.