Accounting for Feminism

Although gender challenges in accounting are widely acknowledged, research often addresses the position of men and women in relation to various issues, without necessarily challenging the underlying structures and social constructions of gender. In contrast, this book takes a much more overtly feminist position, informed by feminist theory, feminist methodology and feminist activism, to challenge these constructs and resulting inequalities. The book addresses contemporary global feminisms and their potential emancipatory implications for accounting, as a profession and as a tool or technology. It explores feminist theorisations of accounting, offering new insights into their relevance, and provides a rich theoretical and practical resource to advance knowledge in the discipline and stimulate further interdisciplinary research. Rather than being issue driven with chapters organised to address particular concerns that relate to gender and accounting, such as parenthood, career progression, accountability, etc., the structure of this book is such that the feminist theoretical position is the starting point for each chapter. The book highlights the range of ways that feminism, in its various forms and from numerous theoretical perspectives, can contribute to an understanding of the challenges relating to gender, race and class occurring within accounting, and the ways of overcoming them. In this way, the book provides an integrated discussion of feminist theories and the emancipatory potential of applying them to accounting that will appeal to readers whatever their orientation to feminism. Kathryn Haynes is Professor of Accounting, Northumbria University, UK.