Abstract

MACIAS GONZALEZ, Gizelle Guadalupe et al. Vocational and scientific aspirations of institutionalized girls and young women in a residential home: feminist experiences in promoting science through a multidisciplinary team. La ventana [online]. 2026, vol.7, n.63, pp.123-159.  Epub Mar 20, 2026. ISSN 1405-9436.  https://doi.org/10.32870/lv.v7i63.8102.

This article investigates the vocational and scientific aspirations of girls and young women institutionalized in a residential care home located in Los Altos de Jalisco, Mexico, during the summer of 2024. Through a dialogical approach to science education and grounded in Social Cognitive Career Theory, the study explores how internal factors -such as self-efficacy and resilience- and external factors -such as the family and social environment- influence vocational and scientific aspirations. Within a socio-critical research paradigm, the study employs a participatory action research methodology, including the implementation of vocational workshops in educational robotics and professional and scientific guidance activities facilitated by a multidisciplinary team. The pedagogical practice of these workshops is based on a committed pedagogy that embraces emotions and desires, and draws from the critical thinking empowerment advocated by bell hooks.

The findings reveal that although the girls and young women express interest in scientific fields, their aspirations are limited by lack of access to resources, conditions of physical, social, emotional, and economic vulnerability, the absence of science education and role models, and gendered expectations. The analysis concludes that it is essential to develop educational interventions with a feminist gender perspective to offer girls and young women in vulnerable situations equitable opportunities in science and the possibility of vocational freedom. This study contributes to the understanding of how institutional contexts shape vocational aspirations and underscores the importance of inclusive policies to foster scientific interest among vulnerable children and youth.

Keywords : institutionalized orphan children/adolescents; science education; feminism; pedagogy; action research; vocational guidance.

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