Gender inequalities persist on the labour market in Canada, particularly with respect to wages and working conditions. In the field of educational and vocational guidance, several emancipatory schemes, based on the social norm of equality, are aimed at countering these inequalities starting from youths’ initial training. Nevertheless, few young women and men are actually moving into non-traditional sectors, and for some, stereotypical gender-related representations of professions seem to limit their professional opportunities or career choices, and can create inequalities of access to certain professions. Based on a cultural-historical activity theory analysis, we discuss how a group career counseling program designed in Quebec (Canada), and having emancipatory aims, can support the development of young people’s empowerment and their critical consciousness regarding their career choices and aspirations. The results uphold that the students gradually appropriate the linguistic instruments that are transmitted in the group, particularly those regarding gender stereotypes. The students become progressively conscious of the stereotypical gender-related representations that influence their professional choices and, more broadly, their gender social relationships. The groups are also a space for speaking up. As such, especially for certain young women who are not used to this, the groups allow students to assert themselves, to participate in debates and to dare to formulate their opinions on issues that concern them, both within their group and more broadly in their community. In conjunction with democratic participation, the participation in these groups give voice to students on issues related to gender inequalities and more broadly to inequalities in their school context or in their communities. Accordingly, group career counseling and guidance counselors can play an important role in supporting the development of students’ competence to speak out on issues of inequality and social justice that affect them.
