Women’s skills and career advancement: a review of gender (in)equality in an accounting workplace

This paper examines the effects of organizational culture, society, and masculinity on women’s skills in accounting workplaces and the influences of workplace norms, culture, and organizational structure on women’s leadership qualities and behaviours towards their work. Based on previous studies, we link the theory with professional skill and career advancement of women. We argue that a gender imbalance has prevailed for centuries affecting women’s careers; and, the transformation of accounting technologies, corporate structures, and the amalgamation of cultures have exacerbated gender inequality. Women’s lack of self-motivation and men’s dominance in accounting contexts keep women subordinate to men in accounting workplaces. We propose that offering courses on gender issues to business and accounting disciplines taught at university would subsequently shift the paradigm of hegemony and subordination in an accounting workplace.