In our time, the possibility of choice in professional self-realization are characterized by the variety of opportunities that are similar for both boys and girls. However, the absence of formal restrictions in professional self-determination does not give the individual complete freedom from the pressure of gender stereotypes. Belonging to one of the gender categories can quite significantly determine the nature of the valuable and semantic foundations of a person in choosing a career, career planning, life strategy and assessing the success of life. Currently, the idea of the division of professions into "female" and "male" are still presented in the social consciousness, and this affects the possibility of including the image profession in self-concept.  For example, professional role may face the exclusion from the semantic categories of gender, especially in case of gender-non-typical profession, or actualization of the gender role in self-awareness can create complexity of professional self-determination (Athanasou, van Esbroeck, 2008; Kemmet, 2017).

Modern gender transformations also serve as a source of intrapersonal conflicts (Lopukhova, 2013a), which may affect the uncertainty and instability of professional self-determination (Lopukhova, 2013b). It is, in fact, a poorly understood blending of conflicting social norms that cause conflict of identity and, as a consequence, emotional and behavioral problems (Hirsh, Kang, 2015). Intrapersonal conflicts of student’s professional self-determination are expressed in dissatisfaction with the choice of profession, the unwillingness to continue professional education, the exclusion of career goals from the strategy of life, the sense of failure, etc. (Sadovnikova, 2016; Shulga, Kolomiіets, 2017; Gerasimova & Gerasymova, 2016).

Theoretical frameworks of this study are the theory of self-determination (Deci, Ryan, 2008) and the theory of gender lenses (Bem, 1974). Deci and Ryan consider self-determination as the freedom to choose, despite the constraints of the environment and connect it with intrinsic motivation. In this sense, professional self-determination should not depend on gender norms and bias, particularly in blurring gender boundaries and mixing roles. At the same time, Bem's cognitive approach draws attention to the fact that in one environment different people can perceive gender in their minds to varying degrees. In particular, Bem identifies "gender-typed persons" who perceive the world and themselves through gender categories and "non-gender-typed persons” who are not inclined to gender categorization. Within this theory framework, it is assumed that lack of gender categorization that does not define rigid external schemes for self-determination is more adaptive. However, the choice of the profession and the development of the individual in the framework of professional norms often face gender stereotypes and prejudices. The notions of "male" and "female" professions, as well as the fact that the “male life strategy” is associated primarily with professional development, and "female" - with the family sphere are still strong.

This study is based on the assumption that the professional self-determination of students in higher education is often internally conflictual because of the gender influence, in particular values, perceptions and images that underlie the self-realization of the person as a man or as a woman. On the other hand, internal gender conflict of young people due to the trends of mixing gender roles may lead to unstable professional self-determination, to uncertainty in the choice of profession or dissatisfaction of professional choice.

Since the psychological support of professional education, professional orientation and counseling cannot be carried out adequately without taking into account the gender specificity of the professional self-determination process, the results of this research will complement understanding of the causes of professional self-determination intrapersonal conflicts. In practice, this will provide an opportunity to develop methods for supporting professional development with orientation towards gender characteristics of the individual.

The diagnostic toolkit included: 1) Questions about the demographic data of respondents (sex, age, institution and specialization of higher professional education): 2) The questionnaire of the gender type of personality (the Russian analogue of the «Bem Sex Role Inventory» (Bem, 1974)) (Lopukhova, 2013b); 3) Instrument, created according to the “plural identifications” psychosemantic method (Petrenko, Mitina, 2010) to evaluate the identification of self-image with images that reflect well-being ("Happy Man / Woman" and "Successful person"); 4) Test "Life goals" (Lopukhova, 2013a) which allows to evaluate the tendency to choose "masculine" (oriented to professional goals, material independence, etc.) and "feminine" (relationship-oriented, caring and family) life strategies. 5) The diagnostic method for determining the professional orientation sustainability (Lopukhova, 2003). In the diagnostic method for determining the professional orientation sustainability, students are first asked to assess how much the profession they are acquiring now will allow them to meet certain needs (for example, "Be financially secure", "Benefit society", "Have a guaranteed quiet future", "To be a part of the collective", "To work creatively", etc.). The next stage is modeling the situation of changes in the life path and profession with a re-evaluation of the same list of needs, but already from the perspective of the "newly chosen profession". Comparing the estimated needs for the acquire profession and the "newly chosen", we can estimate the strength of needs frustration, and, therefore, expression of internal conflict related to the professional development. The sample consisted of 146 students of 1-2 courses of Kazan Federal University and Kazan State Power Engineering University: 69 boys and 77 girls. Students were trained in humanitarian and technical specialties: psychology, pedagogy, primary education, technical physics, applied mathematics, automation of technical processes and industries, electric power and electrical engineering, computer science and computer science. The average age of respondents is 18-22 years. In analyzing the data, quantitative non-parametric methods were used: frequency analysis, the Chuprov’s mean-square contingency coefficient (K), and qualitative analysis.

Girls-students have lower, then young men, level of professional orientation sustainability. Stable professional orientation have 22% young women and 35% men-students. For girls with stable professional orientation, the main role is played by motives for ensuring their social protection in professional activity, while for young men - professional development. The apparent contradiction of professional activity motives observed in one third of the surveyed young men (32%) and more than half of young women (53%), which is an indirect indication that they have the intrapersonal conflicts of professional development. Analysis of the distribution of gender identity types indicates tendencies of a more sustainable professional orientation in gender-typed students. Young men with non-gender-typed personality are more likely to have sustainable professional orientation (K=0,7; p≤0,01), while non-gender-typed girls-students are more often characterized by instability of professional orientation (K=0,5; p≤0,05). Students with a stable professional orientation are also characterized by a tendency to a masculine life strategy where the main goals are "to acquire fame", "to have a lot of free time", "to have a high social status", "to give children a good education", "to ensure the material well-being of the family". Students with an unstable professional orientation have a "feminine" life strategy with the goals of "taking care of parents", "to meet the loved person", "marry", "participating in the lives of their children", etc. In addition, the identification of the self-image with well-being images is stronger in young men and women with a stable professional orientation, in comparison with students with an unstable professional orientation. We can conclude that the internal conflict in professional self-determination is a common occurrence among university students and is determined by the incompatibility of the "female type" of personal perceptions and values with the goals of the profession.

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