Despite ongoing efforts to attract and retain students belonging to marginalized groups, including women of color, in STEM disciplines such as engineering, computer science, and physics, the numbers continue to fall severely short. According to the National Science Foundation (2023), women comprise just less than 25% of bachelor’s degree earners in these fields, while women of color make up less than 6%. One major reason for the shortfall is that recruitment and retention efforts are often rooted in deficit models that seek to “fix” these students—for example by providing tutoring or teaching them “self-confidence”— rather than addressing the systemic, inequitable practices and culture that repel many of these students in the first place.