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History

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In the United Kingdom, Mary Harris Smith applied to join the ICAEW in 1888, but was refused membership as a woman.[1] Though the question of admitting women to the ICAEW was raised in 1895, it was blocked by the opposition of that year's President, Charles Fitch Kemp. In 1909, Winston Churchill, as President of the Board of Trade, requested that women be admitted to the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors and the ICAEW.[2] Following female suffrage in the Representation of the People Act 1918, women's admittance to the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors was discussed. In 1919 Mary Harris Smith applied to join the Society without further examination, and was made an Honorary Fellow. After the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act later that year, it also became illegal for the ICAEW to refuse women candidates, and Mary Harris Smith became the world's first Chartered Accountant. Five women registered as articled clerks in 1920.[1]

In New Zealand, women were able to train and qualify as public accountants from the inception of the New Zealand accounting association, ICANZ, in 1908. However, men overwhelmingly dominated ICANZ membership for decades: women comprised under 5% until the 1980s. Today, ICANZ admits as many women as men, though there has not been a corresponding growth of the proportion of women partners in accounting firms. [3]

Ms. R. Sivabhogam, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi who had been imprisoned for her participation in the Non-Cooperation Movement, became India's first woman accountant in 1933.[4]

Israel's first female Accountant-General, Michal Abadi Boyanjo, was appointed in June 2011.[5]

In the United States, Jennie M. Palen (died 1990) was an important pioneer: in 1923 she became one of the first women in New York State to be certified a Certified Public Accountant and joined the New York Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA). In 1936 she became a member of the American Institute of Accountants. Palen was made a principal (though, lacking auditing experience, never a partner) at Haskins & Sells, eventually heading their reports department. She was active in the American Woman's Society of Certified Public Accountants (AWSCPA) for over fifty years, editing their journal The Woman CPA. [6] The proportion of accounting and auditing professionals who were women rose from 39% in 1983 to 61% in 2005.[7]

There has been considerable research on factors impeding women's advancement in the accounting profession.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b ICAEW 1914-1938 Timeline
  2. ^ ICAEW 1881-1913 Timeline
  3. ^ Barbara Davenport, Women in Accounting: Their careers and membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in New Zealand, PhD thesis, 2007, pp.7-10
  4. ^ The First Woman Accountant of India, The Chartered Accountant, June 2006
  5. ^ Steinitx appoints first female Accountant-General, The Jerusalem Post, 4 June 2011.
  6. ^ Wanda G. Spruill and Charles W. Wootton, Jennie M. Palen, The CPA Journal, 1996. See also Spruill, W. G. and Wootton, W. (1995) 'The Struggle of Women in Accounting: The case of Jennie Palen, pioneer accountant, historian and poet', Critical Perspectives on Accounting, vol. 6, no, 4, pp.371-389
  7. ^ New Scan, The Chartered Accountant, January 2006, p.1058
  8. ^ C. Dambrin & C. Lambert, Identity and Reflexivity in Research on Women Accountants
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