Gendered Hierarchies of Dependency: Women Making Partnership in Accountancy Firms

Accountancy is an elite profession, but women are underrepresented at the top of the hierarchy and amid partnership ranks. Gendered Hierarchies of Dependency examines this underrepresentation of women at partnership level cross-nationally and through a feminist lens, revealing important insights into the day-to-day working and private lives of modern elites.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 10 August 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Accountancy is a prestigious profession that exerts significant influence in every aspect of business and political life, spanning from takeover to bankruptcies, and from Brexit to war. We rely on accountants to provide us with a broader perspective and foster trust among individuals in public life. However, for much of the profession's history, women have been excluded from it, and despite significant progress in women's access to the field, they remain significantly underrepresented at the highest levels of the hierarchy and in partnership positions across the industry and globally.

It is crucial to note that the severity of this underrepresentation varies across national borders, an aspect that remains largely unexplored. Gendered Hierarchies of Dependency delves into this issue by examining the underrepresentation of women at partnership level across different countries, specifically Germany and the United Kingdom, through a feminist lens. By integrating insights from accountancy, organization studies, political economy, and the feminist ethics of care literature, Kokot-Blamey offers innovative contributions to contemporary debates surrounding women at work, neoliberalism, and the capitalist notion of the autonomous self.

Beyond career advancement to partnership, Kokot-Blamey addresses several timely issues, including the persistence of discrimination and sexism in the workplace, motherhood, and navigating recessions and economic crises in the accountancy field. This book provides valuable insights into the daily lives and private experiences of modern elites, shedding light on how hierarchies are negotiated differently across borders, yet always resulting in gendered outcomes.

Dimension: 234 x 153 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780199688456