This study utilizes interviews with 33 racially diverse high school girls who have expressed interest in engineering careers. Using the framework of critical consciousness and informed by intersectional theories, the authors examine their views about gender inequality in engineering. Results revealed that while most articulated systemic understandings of inequality, Black participants were particularly likely to exhibit this critical reflection. Yet many young women revealed a more emerging form of critical reflection, particularly Asian participants. Few respondents expressed critical self-efficacy, or confidence to challenge gender inequality in their future careers; such views were almost exclusively held by Black and Latinx respondents. In contrast, White respondents commonly invoked a “lean-in” self-efficacy to be successful navigating, but not challenging, the White male-dominated engineering workforce. Overall, we find clear evidence that young women’s racialized identities have implications not only for their understandings of gender inequality, but also for their motivation to disrupt it.

这项研究利用了对 33 名对工程职业表示兴趣的不同种族的高中女生的采访。作者利用批判意识的框架并以交叉理论为依据，审视了他们对工程中性别不平等的看法。结果显示，虽然对不平等有最清晰的系统理解，但黑人参与者特别有可能表现出这种批判性反思。然而，许多年轻女性揭示了一种更为新兴的批判性反思形式，尤其是亚洲参与者。很少有受访者表达了批判性的自我效能感或在未来职业生涯中挑战性别不平等的信心；这种观点几乎完全由黑人和拉丁裔受访者持有。相比之下，白人受访者通常会调用“精益”自我效能来成功导航，但不具挑战性的是，白人男性占主导地位的工程劳动力。总体而言，我们发现明确的证据表明，年轻女性的种族身份不仅对她们对性别不平等的理解有影响，而且对她们破坏它的动机也有影响。