IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v22y2011i1p79-101.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ethel Ayres Purdie: Critical practitioner and suffragist

Author

Listed:
  • Walker, Stephen P.

Abstract

The pursuit of critical accounting practice is explored through the life of Ethel Ayres Purdie (1874–1923), certified accountant and militant suffragist. Drawing on an array of primary and secondary sources the study explores the arenas in which Ayres Purdie sought progressive change, particularly in relation to the taxation of married women and the exclusionary policies of the accounting establishment. The diverse structures and media vehicles which she utilised to disseminate competing discourses are examined. Further, this biographical study reveals that the construction of a clientele by early women accountants relied substantially on sisterhood – female solidarity borne of common experience in patriarchal society and a determination to challenge its institutions. The injustices suffered by women clients provided case data which a critical practitioner such as Ethel Ayres Purdie could use to dispute official narratives. The paper illustrates how the professional services which women accountants offered to feminist organisations represented an important, if largely unexplored, contribution to the suffrage movement in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain.

Suggested Citation

  • Walker, Stephen P., 2011. "Ethel Ayres Purdie: Critical practitioner and suffragist," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 79-101.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:22:y:2011:i:1:p:79-101
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2010.09.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235410001590
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2010.09.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Walker, Stephen P., 2004. "The genesis of professional organisation in English accountancy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 127-156, February.
    2. Kirkham, Linda M. & Loft, Anne, 1993. "Gender and the construction of the professional accountant," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 507-558, August.
    3. Lamb, Margaret, 2001. "'Horrid appealing': accounting for taxable profits in mid-nineteenth century England," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 271-298, April.
    4. Stephen Walker, 2006. "Philanthropic women and accounting. Octavia Hill and the exercise of 'quiet power and sympathy'," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 163-194.
    5. Chioni Moore, David, 1991. "Accounting on trial: The critical legal studies movement and its lessons for radical accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 763-791.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Young, Joni J., 2015. "(En)gendering sustainability," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 67-75.
    2. Dillard, Jesse & Vinnari, Eija, 2017. "A case study of critique: Critical perspectives on critical accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 88-109.
    3. Baker, Darren T & Brewis, Deborah N, 2020. "The melancholic subject: A study of self-blame as a gendered and neoliberal psychic response to loss of the ‘perfect worker’," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    4. Poullaos, Chris, 2016. "Canada vs Britain in the imperial accountancy arena, 1908–1912: Symbolic capital, symbolic violence," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 47-63.
    5. Haynes, Kathryn, 2017. "Accounting as gendering and gendered: A review of 25 years of critical accounting research on gender," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 110-124.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Napier, Christopher J., 2006. "Accounts of change: 30 years of historical accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 445-507.
    2. Noguchi, Masayoshi & Edwards, John Richard, 2008. "Harmonising intergroup relations within a professional body: The case of the ICAEW," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 123-147.
    3. Edwards, John Richard & Walker, Stephen P., 2010. "Lifestyle, status and occupational differentiation in Victorian accountancy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 2-22, January.
    4. Gammie, Elizabeth & Kirkham, Linda, 2008. "Breaking the link with a university education in the creation of a chartered accountant: The ICAS story," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 356-375.
    5. John Edwards & Malcolm Anderson & Roy Chandler, 2005. "How not to mount a professional project: the formation of the ICAEW in 1880," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 229-248.
    6. Cooper, David J. & Robson, Keith, 2006. "Accounting, professions and regulation: Locating the sites of professionalization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 415-444.
    7. Hamilton, Susan E., 2013. "Exploring professional identity: The perceptions of chartered accountant students," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 37-49.
    8. Poullaos, Chris, 2016. "Canada vs Britain in the imperial accountancy arena, 1908–1912: Symbolic capital, symbolic violence," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 47-63.
    9. Antonelli, Valerio & D'Alessio, Raffaele & Lauri, Lucia & Marcello, Raffaele, 2024. "Professional bodies and professional closure strategies: The field of auditing for small and medium-sized enterprises in Italy☆," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    10. Edgley, Carla & Sharma, Nina & Anderson-Gough, Fiona, 2016. "Diversity and professionalism in the Big Four firms: Expectation, celebration and weapon in the battle for talent," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 13-34.
    11. Annisette, Marcia, 2017. "Discourse of the professions: The making, normalizing and taming of Ontario's “foreign-trained accountant”," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 37-61.
    12. Stephen Walker, 2004. "Conflict, collaboration, fuzzy jurisdictions and partial settlements. Accountants, lawyers and insolvency practice during the late 19th century," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 247-265.
    13. Komori, Naoko, 2012. "Visualizing the negative space: Making feminine accounting practices visible by reference to Japanese women's household accounting practices," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 451-467.
    14. Edwards, John Richard & Anderson, Malcolm & Chandler, Roy A., 2007. "Claiming a jurisdiction for the "Public Accountant" in England prior to organisational fusion," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 61-100.
    15. Dambrin, Claire & Lambert, Caroline, 2012. "Who is she and who are we? A reflexive journey in research into the rarity of women in the highest ranks of accountancy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 1-16.
    16. Bitbol-Saba, Nathalie & Dambrin, Claire, 2019. "“It’s not often we get a visit from a beautiful woman!” The body in client-auditor interactions and the masculinity of accountancy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    17. Annisette, Marcia, 2003. "The colour of accountancy: examining the salience of race in a professionalisation project," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(7-8), pages 639-674.
    18. Ioana Ioan, 2009. "Women in the French accountancy profession: the test of the labyrinth," Post-Print halshs-00475216, HAL.
    19. Hammond, Theresa & Clayton, Bruce M. & Arnold, Patricia J., 2009. "South Africa's transition from apartheid: The role of professional closure in the experiences of black chartered accountants," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 705-721, August.
    20. Lambert, Caroline & Dambrin, Claire, 2006. "La question du genre en comptabilité : analyses théoriques et méthodologiques," HEC Research Papers Series 843, HEC Paris.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:22:y:2011:i:1:p:79-101. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.