In our previous project video, we posed the question: “What Is Nursing A Way Out Of?” This question encouraged people to think about whether the nursing profession still offers opportunities for social mobility, economic independence, or escape from traditional gender roles. However, after receiving feedback from our professor and classmates, we realised that this way of framing the question carries a vague assumption: that nursing is indeed a “way out,” without clearly specifying what it is an escape from, or what it leads toward. Therefore, we revised our research question to: “What is nursing a way out of?”
This shift allows us to more specifically explore the social contexts and personal motivations behind choosing nursing as a career. For some people, nursing represents hope—an escape from poverty, lack of educational opportunities, gender oppression, or traditional domestic labour. For others, it is a pathway to economic independence, professional achievement, and greater social status. However, nursing can also represent a new set of challenges, such as long working hours, emotional labour, insufficient pay, and systemic inequality.
Thus, this new question enables us to more comprehensively understand the complex role that nursing plays in different people's lives, rather than reducing it to a simple yes-or-no answer. By rephrasing our research question, we hope to steer our group project toward a more critical exploration, situating nursing within its historical, social, and economic contexts.
