More women - but still on low rungs

Anyone examining U.S. labor markets in recent decades must be impressed by the influx of women into traditionally male fields. While the medical and legal professions are often cited as examples, the gender shift in accounting is even more pronounced.

In 1970, less than 10% of bachelor's degrees in accounting were awarded to females. By the mid-1980s, the share exceeded 50%. Today, women account for 55% of bachelor's degrees in the subject - and 77% of associate's degrees. Indeed, slightly more than half of U.S. accountants are now female, compared with about 25% of doctors and lawyers.

All this raises intriguing questions. Will accounting become an increasingly female-dominated profession? Is it in danger of becoming a multitiered field, with women concentrated on lower rungs? In a recent study, Patricia M. Flynn, John D. Leeth, and Elliott S. Levy of Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., assess women's- and men's- likely roles in accounting's future.

In terms of gender mix, the researchers don't foresee further dramatic inroads by women. For one thing, maleinterest in the profession, which waned in the late 1970s and 1980s, hassince perked up.

And a trend toward diversification and specialization of services by accounting firms is affecting hiring practices in ways that favor men. In recent years, as much as 25% of new hires have had nonaccounting degrees-often in male-dominated fields.

Meanwhile, with females accounting for only 13% of partners in accounting firms, women aren't too hopeful about their chances of making it to the top. Such considerations, plus long hours and inflexible schedules, cause many qualified women to switch to other full-time jobs. Also, most firms now employ accounting paraprofessionals with less than four-year degrees, and these lower-echelon workers are mainly female.

Assuming the accounting gender mix stays relatively stable, such factors as high female turnover rates, the small number of female partners, and the large number of women paraprofessionals all suggest that women are likely to wind up at the lower end of the ladder. But the authors also note that many accounting firms have begun to implement diversity training and to offer flextime, family-leave, and child-care options to retain female workers.

Such steps, say the researchers, hold out the possibility that accounting could still become a gender-integrated profession with women participating fully at all levels of responsibility and pay.