We've come a long way! Maybe! Re‐imagining gender and accounting

Abstract

Purpose

Transforming gender research in accounting is possible, desirable, and promising: the past few decades have included prescient work and expansive theories. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the legacy of the 1992 special issue “Fe[men]ists' account” and urge new linkages and contexts for a continuation of visionary inquiries.

Design/methodology/approach

By reviewing pioneering feminist research in various disciplines, the author opens the margins and boundaries of gender‐in‐accounting research. Innovative multidisciplinary works from different regions of the globe reveal methods for challenging entrenched premises and recasting new meanings.

Findings

Reflecting on our embedded ideas, expanding boundaries, and imagining new areas of inquiry are not only plausible, they are essential, for contesting repression and discrimination and advancing social justice.

Research limitations/implications

Tying the current rhetoric of global neo‐liberalism to contemporary feminist struggles, the paper illustrates the significant consequences of economic globalization on women, and accounting's connection. As there is no single story regarding gender, research exploring the unexplored has precedent in accounting literature, providing a foundation for new insights and enhanced possibilities for advancing and transforming the field.

Originality/value

The paper re‐imagines the accounting‐gender dilemma, offering practical yet expansive research concepts regarding values, class, the construction of gender, and the impositions of economic structures.

Citation

Lehman, C. (2012), "We've come a long way! Maybe! Re‐imagining gender and accounting", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 256-294. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513571211198764