Gender inequality in accounting
More than half of UK accountants consider men and women to have equal opportunities in the workplace, according to a survey by CareersinAudit.com.
However, a significant chunk of the 300 accountants surveyed – 38.7% – still think that men are front of the queue when it comes to opportunities.
In addition, more than 70% of respondents recognised that there was a glass ceiling. But the good news is, the majority of these accountants said that while it existed, the situation was improving.
Accountants also recognised that the ‘glass ceiling’ isn’t more prevalent in their profession than in others.
The report showed that in addition to the majority believing there are equal opportunities for both genders, 62% also thought there was no pay disparity between the two.
And for those that did, the majority thought it was in the range of about 10-20%.
This perception may challenge 2013 figures from finance recruiter Mark Stattin, which surmised the pay gap between male and female accountants widens by an average of £1,000 a year for the first 10 years of their career.
Opportunities such as making partner in the industry were thought to be hampered by the work-life imbalance caused by the stress of the role, meaning it’s “impossible” to raise a family at the same time, said 44%.
But more than a third added that they didn’t think women were prevented from making partner in the profession at all.
In addition to attitudes toward gender issues, accountants were also asked about other elements of their profession.
More than half of those asked said that the corporate lifestyle associated with accountancy had a negative impact on their personal life, the biggest being affecting their family and social lives.
Most surveyed said their top long-term career ambitions lay not around making the most money or working long hours – but firstly achieving a good work-life balance (32%) and then to be happy in their jobs (29%).
AccountingWEB member and regular blogger of ‘A Mum and an Accountant’, Lilac1, has experience as a female and a mother in the profession.
Initially on a higher wage than her husband, she soon fell behind in terms of what she earned and felt like she never quite caught up. In addition she said she found it hard to work while trying to have children and raise a family.
“After having my first daughter and taking a year off and then trying to look for a part time job, trying to get the pay I wanted and what I had before I left work was very difficult. I only had a year off and so I didn’t feel like I had forgotten everything at the time. I’m not sure why it took me so long to find a job with good pay. I did settle for one that wasn’t a great paying job but then decided the stress and childcare costs weren’t worth it.
“At the last place I worked before I became pregnant, I had a female boss. At the outset she seemed really friendly and happy for me. But even there I found after a while, they kept piling the work on and expecting me to do more than I should. I didn’t want being pregnant to be the reason why I couldn’t do work and luckily my pregnancy was fairly smooth going so I was able to keep up but I didn’t want to go back,” she said.
“If I do go back to working in the office, I would like to have the flexibility of taking time off for my kids in an emergency so if I got that, maybe I would settle for a little less.”
Source: accountingweb
