Biographical Transitions and Changing Identities: A Study of Gender and Class Among First-Generation Nursing Graduates in Higher Education in Argentina

Abstract

Within a regional context of expanding higher education and a deepening labor market crisis, this article examines the education-to-work transitions of young women from low socio-economic backgrounds who graduated from B.S. in Nursing programs in Argentina. From an intersectional perspective sensitive to the dimensions of gender and class, we analyze three central dimensions: the construction of conditions of possibility for accessing higher education, the labor opportunities enabled by the degree, and the identity transformations experienced by these women. The study draws on qualitative research conducted at Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche and Universidad Nacional de Hurlingham through biographical interviews carried out between 2024 and 2026, examining labor, educational, and family dimensions. The findings challenge the notion of a decoupling between higher education and employment, suggesting that this relationship must be understood as a phenomenon that varies according to specific educational structures, territories, and sectoral logics.