Accounting histories of women: beyond recovery?

Walker, Stephen

doi:10.1108/09513570810872932

Cited by 68 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 108 publications

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“…Feminist standpoint theory challenges the masculine bias in accountancy towards neutrality and objectivity and asserts a unique and empathetic view of the world from which females can advocate new emancipatory forms of accountancy (Hammond and Oakes, 1992). Walker (2008) provides a review of the extent to which accountancy historians have engaged with women's issues and reviews some important papers that examine the historical role of gender in the accountancy profession (Kirkham, 1992;Lehman, 1992;Kirkham and Loft, 1993;Wootton and Kemmerer, 2000) and the potential influence of feminist theory on accountancy. Another line of research documents women's participation and experiences in the profession and suggests that women face continuing gender discrimination (Haynes, 2008b;Kirkham, 1997;Whiting and Wright, 2001) and that motherhood and child-rearing present serious obstacles to women's promotion prospects (Barker and Monks, 1998;Gallhofer and McNicholas, 1998;Dambrin and Lambert, 2008).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

New avenues of research to explain the rarity of females at the top of the accountancy profession

Jeny¹,

Santacreu-Vasut²

2017

Palgrave Commun

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The rarity of females in leadership positions has been an important subject of study in economics research. The existing research on gender inequality has established that important variations exist across time and place and that these differences are partly attributable to the cultural differences regarding gender roles. The accounting research has also established that women are rarely promoted to the top of the Big Four audit firms (KPMG, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young). However, the majority of research in accountancy has focused on Anglo-Saxon contexts (the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia) or country case studies without explicitly considering the role that cultural variations may play. Because the Big Four are present in more than 140 countries, we argue that the accountancy research that attempts to explain gender disparities at the top of these organizations would benefit from considering cultural factors. Such research, however, faces a key methodological challenge-specifically, the measurement of the cultural dimensions that relate to gender. To address this challenge, we propose an emerging approach that uses the gender distinctions in language to measure cultural attitudes toward gender roles. The idea that language may capture gender roles and even influence their formation and persistence has been the focus of emerging research in linguistics and economics. To support our proposition, we follow two steps. First, we review the accounting research by performing a systematic query on the bibliographic databases of the accounting articles that study gender and language. Second, we present data regarding the diversity of the global boards of the Big Four and the diversity of the linguistic environments in which they operate. We find that half of the countries where the Big Four are present exhibit a sex-based grammatical system for their most-spoken language, while the other half of the countries do not exhibit this system. Our findings suggest that the use of language as a measure of culture is a novel approach in accounting research. We conclude by emphasizing some potential directions for future research, namely, studying the linguistic determinants of the rarity of females at the top of audit firms and exploring accountancy practices in countries with linguistically diverse environments, such as Canada or Belgium, among others. This article is published as part of a collection on the role of women in management and the workplace.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

New avenues of research to explain the rarity of females at the top of the accountancy profession

Jeny¹,

Santacreu-Vasut²

2017

Palgrave Commun

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“…Informed by studies of professionalization (see, for example, Witz, 1992), the research highlights how gender has been used by the accounting profession to construct and maintain its power and knowledge base. According to Walker (2008), increasing studies of women in the accounting profession outside Anglo-Saxon contexts argue that professionalization projects are not only concerned with gender, but also with race, class, ethnicity and the sociocultural context in which women and their accounting work are located (see for example, Aniseette 2006;Carrera et al, 2001;Dambrin and Lambert, 2008;Komori, 2008a). The theme of accounting's involvement in racial and ethnic phenomena is reflected in the special issue "International Perspectives on Race and Gender in Accounting's Past" in Accounting History in 2007.…”

Section: Beyond Western Convergence? : Development In Gender Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the UK and Australia they reveal that the everyday practice of household accounting historically has helped to perpetuate the patriarchal social structure. Walker (2008) has noted that the increasing emphasis on poststructualist histories of women and accounting has revealed the masculine construction of accounting. However, he introduces some literary works which have identified a feminized narrative of accountancy and finds that some literature suggests temporary change in the gendering of accounting prescriptions and accounting's potential for a liberating form of articulation (Walker, 2008, pp.…”

Section: Beyond Western Convergence? : Development In Gender Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the 1990s, the field of gender research in accounting has developed significantly, encompassing a wide range of issues and perspectives and exploring women's experiences in different social and national contexts. Although it cannot be denied that studies in this area are still dominantly shaped by Anglo-Saxon-led Western perspectives which reflect and are built on women's experiences in the Western socio-historical context, questions regarding this imbalance in gender research in accounting have started to be raised by Western researchers themselves (see Walker, 2008;Carnegie and Napier, 2002) 1 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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West Meets East and East Meets West: Gender Research as a Cultural Encounter in Accounting

Komori¹

2016

Advances in Public Interest Accounting

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Globalisation has brought about migration and the transnational movement of people from different backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, using different languages, and has thereby facilitated intercultural interaction and re-interpretation of lived experiences. Gender research in accounting is also influenced by globalization, which has created a platform where different cultures can meet and interact, and where knowledge can be synthesized from the work of authors from various different countries. Building on my own research experiences and its outcomes, this study examines the globalisation of gender research in accounting by tracing the development of research on the relationship between Japanese women and accounting. The experiences of Japan highlight that knowledge in accounting, including gender-in-accounting studies, historically flows from West to East. The language, concepts and framework in existing Western-led accounting studies translate and visualise the history and phenomena in a Japanese context to be shared within the international accounting arena. This study demonstrates that this process provides a body of interesting evidence from Japanese contexts in the fields of history, household accounting and professionalization. Accounting played an enabling role for women in Japan, while positioning women to act as catalysts for social change. Questions arise regarding the potential for such findings (from the East) to flow to the West and be accorded equal status to Western-led accounting research. The study concludes by discussing, in terms of achieving sustainable and innovative knowledge creation in accounting, the importance of herstory in understanding local culture and its integration into 'global' academic research.

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“…More specifically, the household accounting literature addresses the impact of accounting techniques on women's lifestyles Walker, 1998Walker, , 2003Walker, , 2008. Thus, we can see that accounting techniques have been seen to influence different aspects in the context of the household, for example: access to the public domain; decision making; distribution of householders' responsibilities; and household economic contributions and opportunities for skill development and use.…”

Section: '[Are] Part Of Technologies Of Control It Is At the Hinge Wmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calculating the carbon footprint: Implications for governing emissions and gender relations

2016

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Accounting histories of women: beyond recovery?

Cited by 68 publications

References 108 publications

New avenues of research to explain the rarity of females at the top of the accountancy profession

New avenues of research to explain the rarity of females at the top of the accountancy profession

West Meets East and East Meets West: Gender Research as a Cultural Encounter in Accounting

Calculating the carbon footprint: Implications for governing emissions and gender relations

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