“Some people claim there’s a woman to blame”

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate gender-based punishment bias in the type and severity of punishments imposed on a male-dominated profession using the accounting profession as a proxy. Design/methodology/approach Data were hand-collected from the population of certified public accountants disciplined for violations of the Code of Professional Conduct. Disciplinary actions were obtained from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant’s website. A total of 404 observations were obtained for the study over a five-year period from January 2009 through June 2015, comprising the population of the captured infractions committed during this time frame. Findings Women are punished more harshly than men for equivalent infractions; the disparity in punishment between women and men increases with the severity of the infraction. Originality/value This paper answers the call by Wren (2006) for an increased examination of workplace punishment’s relationship to gender using real-world scenarios and data. This study provides empirical evidence of the gender-based punishment bias, which calls into question the neutrality of workplace punishment as executed by a male-dominated profession.