Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Abstract

This chapter aims to analyse the professional trajectories of women working in public accounting in light of the glass ceiling phenomenon. The authors applied the oral history method. To this end, they collected testimonies, through semi-structured interviews, with the participation of three public servants of the Directorate of Finance and Accounting (DFC), the largest higher education institution (HEI) in the northern region of Brazil. The results show that the women interviewed do not consider barriers to taking management positions. Despite previous contrary results, it was possible to ascertain that the public servers participating in the study recognise that women are breaking not only the ceiling but the entire organisational structure of public sector glass. This research contributes to broadening and deepening the literary discussion on gender and accounting. Furthermore, by adopting the oral history methodology, this chapter highlights the construction of the identity of the actors, recognising that the past is built according to the needs of the present.