CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Fekete, Dorottya |
|---|---|
| Title | Gender and the Perception of the Public Work Scheme in Hungary |
| Summary | The thesis assesses the reasons behind female public work employment and the perceived benefits and disadvantages of the program within Hungary. It addresses the difference between men’s and women’s experience within the scheme and the reasons why public work is attractive to women in a specific structural, relational and circumstantial context. The study is based on interviews I have conducted with 15 public workers and three managers in two different cities, one in Pest county and another one in Komárom-Esztergom county. The thesis provides a gender analysis of public work and workfare and engages with the debate regarding work-care decisions. It also demonstrates how the prevalence of the ideal worker norm channels women into a specific type of employment. I argue that female public work participants use their job as a strategic tool to achieve work-life balance in a time when the labor market is characterized by rigid work arrangements and long working hours. However, this strategy allows women to continue to bear the double burden of paid and unpaid work instead of improving the conditions within the labor market for both men and women. With the increased ratio of women in public work, it becomes a new type of pink-collar employment that tolerates women’s domestic responsibilities. Despite the precarity that surrounds the job, I argue that women are able to derive emotional, social and financial gains from it. Paid work allows women to feel competent and appreciated which stands in contrast with the way domestic work is perceived. As the meaning of work for men is related to their provider role and to the identity they gain through their profession, for them public work is a means to material benefits and does not provide meaning or fulfillment. The topic of this thesis is a relevant and important issue in order to understand how Hungarian labor market patterns and inequalities within society intersect with gender, class, and ethnicity. |
| Supervisor | Fodor, Éva |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/fekete_dorottya.pdf |
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