Title/Topic:

Gender Equality in the Workplace: Understanding the Lived Experiences of Women with Accounting
Management Roles

Objectives:

1. Explore the gender-related workplace experiences of women with accounting management

roles.

2. Determine the ways developed by women management accountants in navigating gender-

related challenges.

3. Examine how fostering gender equality in the workplace can improve the working conditions of
accounting departments in companies.

Theoretical Framework

Figure 1. Gender Stratification Theory

The paper's theoretical framework is built around gender stratification theory in the

context of women in the accounting profession based on the results of the literature review. The

idea of gender stratification, or social stratification and gender as it is frequently referred as in

the literature, can be applied to a wide range of contexts, including historical comparisons
(Dubose 2017; Wermuth and Monges 2020). Women not having the same chances or

opportunities as men due to their gender is referred to as gender stratification or gender

inequality.

Men often hold a greater position than women in society, according to gender

stratification discussions, which take into account factors including class, race, and sex

(male/female). The concepts of gender stratification and gender inequality are the same.

According to the theory, gender stratification serves to efficiently divide labor or establish a

social system in which one group of people is in charge of specific tasks, while another group is

in charge of other tasks that may or may not be more important (Brinton, 2018). It examines

every facet of daily life and transcends all social classes, bringing up the disparity in access

between men and women.

Gender stratification theory proposes the premise that gender disparities exist as a way to

build a system, a social one, in which one segment of the population is privileged is in charge of

some labor laws, whereas the other part is in charge of other labor laws. The main issue is that,

like in any other social group, there is a tendency for one group to become dominant and

possibly suppress the other one due to the inequalities that have gender as their source. If conflict

theory, according to Hans and Knöbl (2016), is included as a component, society is said to be in

a constant state of competition over resources.

The dominant group will often labor and attempt to maintain its position of power,

though this can alter over time. Additionally, this frequently happened, at least in the beginning

when women's rights were almost nonexistent (Collins et al. 2015). According to the theory of

gender stratification, society is divided into layers, with one layer always having more power

than the others. In light of this, from a gender standpoint, Women as a whole will always take a
back seat to men in history, the public eye, or in positions of power because men are the more

significant layer.

Glass ceiling, sexism, discrimination, prejudice, and double standards are factors that are

causing this confluence. The belief that men are superior to women is the fundamental tenet of

everything stated above (Treas and Tai 2016; Collins et al. 2017; Keister and Southgate 2018).

Therefore, if the latter do have the courage to pursue a profession, they struggle to live up to the

standards (which are shaped in a man's image), and as a result, they frequently find it challenging

to pursue a distinctive career path.

Reference:

Wermuth et. al (2020). Gender Stratification: A Structural Model for Examining Case Examples

of Women in Less-Developed Countries. A Journal of Women Studies. Retrieved November 12,

2022, from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Gender-Stratification%3A-A-Structural-

Model-for-Case-Wermuth-Monges/62a31f412bdd52068cd464b6c78a0d28d46528