Chartered Accountants Ireland has published The Minority Interest, a book that examines the experiences of women who make it to the top of the accountancy profession. The book, written by Professor Patricia Barker, was launched last night by CAI President, Tom Fitzpatrick and Deputy Joan Burton (herself a Chartered Accountant).
Women now enter the profession as students in equal numbers to men, but they still encounter obstacles in achieving partnership. Additionally, they 'quit' the partnership track in greater numbers than men. Much has been written about the barriers which prevent women from breaking the glass ceiling, but The Minority Interest takes the ground-breaking approach of focussing instead on women who have overcome the obstacles and achieve partnership in their accountancy firms. The author interviewed 43 women partners from the four largest firms and has drawn common themes from their stories. Some of the common themes were:
- The women came from mixed backgrounds, had mothers who worked full-time in the home and had parents who supported them but did not push them.
- Nearly all the women attended single-sex schools and had good academic records at school and at university.
- They displayed predominantly masculine characteristics, were competitive, and had a need to be financially independent. They typically felt less self-assured than the highly confident personas they projected.
- Many had taken a strategic decision not to have children or to defer motherhood in order to pursue their careers (45% of them had no children and a further 15% had only one child).
- 77% were or had been married and they pointed out the desirability of having a husband:
o for their support,
o to save time that would otherwise be spent meeting men and
o to make socialising with male clients less open to misunderstanding.
- They referred to the importance of having had male mentors themselves. However, they did not feel that they themselves were good mentors to young women.
- Whilst they observed the importance of the 'boys' network' in the profession, they were reluctant to form a women's network lest it be misinterpreted as a 'knitting circle'.
- Although their career track to partnership was heavily planned and structured, their post-partnership career planning was less organised.
The Minority Interest concludes by suggesting food for thought for:
- young women who are contemplating a track to partnership,
- accountancy firms who seek to retain more women, and
- the women partners themselves.
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