Special issue on Gender and accounting revisited

Citation

(2008), "Special issue on Gender and accounting revisited", Pacific Accounting Review, Vol. 20 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/par.2008.34220baa.002

Special issue on Gender and accounting revisited

Article Type: Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Volume 21, Issue 4 From: Pacific Accounting Review, Volume 20, Issue 2.

In 1992, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal published a ground-breaking special issue that considered aspects of gender and accounting. The papers in this issue took a variety of different approaches to the subject but all went beyond simply looking at the gendered division of labour within the profession. These contributions addressed not only the way in which feminist insights could help us better understand the accounts we produce but also the extent to which insights from feminist theory could help us to understand aspects of accounting practice.

Since then, some notable contributions continuing this tradition have been offered and work has also been undertaken which has looked at the impact of gender on the professional project. However, richer explorations and insights informed by feminist scholarship remain under-represented in the literature and much of the work that seeks to address issues of gender remains focused on the gendered division of labour. This special issue seeks to change that situation, revisiting the subject in order to take stock of where we are now and to reappraise where feminist thoughts, theories and ideals can take us. We wish to reconsider the situation of women, particularly as accountants and as academics studying accounting as well as in our roles as stakeholders in a society for which we seek to account and in which we are accounted for. We wish to reconsider the extent to which feminist theorising can help to develop accounts that are emancipatory for society as a whole as well as all the various sectional interests that comprise society. In particular we hope to further the process of integrating feminist insights into mainstream accounting issues and practice.

Linda Kirkham, Aberdeen Business School, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen AB10 7QE, UK. E-mail: l.m.kirkham@rgu.ac.uk

Jane Broadbent, Vice Chancellor's Office, Roehampton University, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5PH, UK. E-mail: jane.broadbent@roehampton.ac.uk