How gendered is ambition? Educational and occupational plans of Indigenous youth in Australia

• Indigenous girls are much more likely to plan university study than Indigenous boys.
• Indigenous youth whose fathers are professionals are more likely to plan university.
• Gender segregates career plans of Indigenous youth more than plans of other youth.
• Girls’ expected lifetime earnings are lower, despite more ambitious career plans.

While educational and occupational expectations of Australian youth are known to differ by gender, its intersectionality with Indigenous status, which shapes these expectations, has received little attention. This analysis of the nationally representative Programme for International Student Assessment data, collected in 2006 and 2009 in Australia, finds similarities in school-related factors that boost ambition of Indigenous and non-Indigenous boys and girls. In contrast, maternal and paternal role models influence Indigenous and non-Indigenous students differently. Compared to boys, girls plan to enter occupations which require higher educational qualifications. Despite that, adolescent girls face lower expected lifetime incomes.