Field, capital and habitus: An oral history of women in accounting in Australia during World War II

Catherine Ikin, Leanne Johns*, Colleen Hayes

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    33 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In this article we provide an oral history of women who worked as accountants in Australia during World War II. We use Bourdieu's theory of practice to identify the accounting profession as a hierarchical field, where relative positions are defined in terms of associated cultural, social and symbolic capital. Women were historically excluded from the profession as they lacked the requisite capital. However, the shortage of male accountants during World War II led to women being employed in otherwise male-dominated positions. We find that women responded positively to this opportunity and challenged the general belief that they were unsuited to accounting work. Furthermore, women received support from male accountants with whom they worked.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)175-192
    Number of pages18
    JournalAccounting History
    Volume17
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2012

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