Accounting as gendering and gendered: A review of 25 years of critical accounting research on gender

This paper gives a critical review of 25 years of critical accounting research on gender, addressing what we have learned to date and what are the most challenging areas to be investigated in the future. It considers accounting as a political construct implicated in perpetuating inequality, with reference to global gender challenges. Gendered histories of accounting and stories of individual struggles show barriers to entry being overcome; but challenges remain. Accounting acts as both a gendered and gendering institution in relation to career hierarchies, motherhood, work-life debates, and feminisation and segmentation, and interacts with gendered identity, embodiment and sexuality. The paper outlines the contribution of feminist theory to accounting research on gender and calls for further research on the interaction of gender relations with global capitalism.