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Abstract
New evidence is presented about the campaign to secure the admission of women to the accountancy profession in England and Wales during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This evidence, which permits a more gender-encompassing approach, is analysed by reference to Witz's (1992) conceptual model of the relationship between patriarchy and professionalisation. It is shown that initially the campaign for admission comprised a usurpationary struggle pursued in civil society. Here equal rights were emphasised and credentialist tactics deployed. These efforts were successfully resisted by the professional elite. When, in consequence of male demands for a statutory monopoly, the issue entered the state arena and legalistic tactics were pursued, the admission of women was conceded in principle. However, the subsequent emergence of separatist solutions offered scope for internal demarcation and the creation of a gendered hierarchy within the profession under patriarchal control. The study emphasises the sustained nature of the campaign for the inclusion of women and its alignment with contemporary feminism. It also suggests the importance of proxy male power to the movement and revisits the ideological foundations of male resistance to it.
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to Ellen Jordan, Anne Bridger and Kate Perry for their advice on searching the archives of the SPEW in Girton College, Cambridge. Helpful comments were received from attendees at the 2nd Balkans and Middle East Countries Conference on Auditing and Accounting History, Istanbul, September 2010 and from a presentation at Newcastle University Business School in April 2011. I am grateful to the editor, John Richard (Dick) Edwards, and the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions.
Notes
Delamont (Citation1989, 106–10) also draws the useful distinction between women campaigners who were ‘uncompromising’ – those who sought access to, and emulation of, male credentialling systems; and ‘separatists’ – who argued for distinctive educational programmes for women.
Male tactics founded on the language of royal charters had been deployed elsewhere, for example, by the Royal College of Physicians in 1864 (Witz Citation1992, 100). A further letter from Harris Smith in early 1893 was discussed by the Parliamentary and Law Committee (MS28420/1, 47).
Frances Mary Buss (1827–94) was an associate of Emily Davies, headmistress of North London Collegiate School for Ladies, and a leading authority on girl's education. She was also active in efforts to extend the employment opportunities of women and secure their access to professions. Miss Buss was a member of the General Committee of the SPEW, 1875–88 (Coutts Citation2004).
This is likely to have been Mr Fraser, chartered accountant, who gave lectures in accounting at the Working Women's College, London (Hearth and Home, 9 February 1893).
The Pall Mall Gazette also commented that there was no truth in the statement that ‘the clause in the Bill carrying the admission of ladies to membership had been inserted through pressure from the Women's Freedom League … The Board of Trade itself made the suggestion, the authorities in Whitehall having reminded the Societies that many ladies were now in active practice’ (quoted in The Accountant, 22 May 1909, 747–8).
Harold J. Tennant (1865–1935) was Liberal MP for Berwickshire, 1894–1918 and a brother-in-law of Herbert Henry Asquith, Prime Minister, 1908–16. At the time of Tennant's appointment Winston S. Churchill was President of the Board of Trade (Curthoys Citation2004).
An alternative, more inclusive measure, the Professional Accountants Bill, No. 2, was also introduced in the House of Commons on behalf of the ‘petty societies which have sprung up of recent years’ (BT58/178, file 1937; The Accountant, 16 October 1909). This made careful reference to ‘persons’ so as to include women within its scope.
The Chartered Accountants Registration Bill was dropped in spring 1914 following differences of opinion as to the wisdom of proceeding with it (MS28438/1).
Interestingly, one source suggests that such pressure was resisted by most women accountants who ‘steadfastly decline all work that is not offered them upon the same terms as it would be offered to a man’ (Bateson Citation1895, 74–5).
Similar arguments were advanced in relation to the admission of women to the medical profession (Witz Citation1992, 84–5).
In an earlier letter Mary Harris Smith also expressed support for Fawcett's campaign to abolish the employment of children in pantomimes (M50/4/19/1).
The Local Government Act, 1894, abolished the property qualification for those seeking election as Poor Law Guardians and thereby opened this position to women (Hollis Citation1987, 195–246; King Citation2004; Gordon and Doughan Citation2002, 130).