Sian, Suki and Agrizzi, Dila and Tessa, Wright and Abeer, Alsalloom (2020) Negotiating gender constraints in international audit firms in Saudi Arabia: Exploring the interaction of gender and religion. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 84. p. 101103. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2020.101103
Sian, Suki and Agrizzi, Dila and Tessa, Wright and Abeer, Alsalloom (2020) Negotiating gender constraints in international audit firms in Saudi Arabia: Exploring the interaction of gender and religion. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 84. p. 101103. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2020.101103
Sian, Suki and Agrizzi, Dila and Tessa, Wright and Abeer, Alsalloom (2020) Negotiating gender constraints in international audit firms in Saudi Arabia: Exploring the interaction of gender and religion. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 84. p. 101103. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2020.101103
Abstract
The adoption of religious nationalism as a public project by the Saudi state continues to intimately shape the experiences of Saudi women, despite recent initiatives facilitating the participation of women in the workforce. Through interview-based evidence, the paper shows how patriarchal societal norms and practices rooted in a particular interpretation of Islam and enshrined in legislation are transported into the workplace and impact upon the daily lives of Saudi women auditors. Although various barriers to the progression of women auditors are already identified in the accounting and gender literature, our study provides additional insights into how the profession in Saudi Arabia takes a very distinctive gendered form due to the interaction of gender with religious and cultural norms. Additionally, our evidence highlights the role of the global audit firms, particularly the predominantly male audit managers and partners, in adapting their diversity management practices to navigate the constraints on female auditors in the Saudi context. We find evidence of pervasive inequality and the re-segregation of the Saudi female auditing workforce into ‘woman-friendly’ areas, with potentially damaging effects on career progression.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | audit firms, gender, accounting profession, religious nationalism, Saudi Arabia |
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Essex Business School |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 10 Jan 2020 09:27 |
Last Modified: | 16 May 2024 20:08 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/26406 |
Available files
Filename: AOS FINAL Submission December 2019.pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0