An Examination of Potential Public Accounting Recruits’ Attitudes Toward Women

Abstract

This paper examines potential public accounting recruits’ attitudes toward the rights of women using the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS) (49). This scale was designed to capture hostile sexist beliefs and the extent to which respondents harbour negative stereotypes about women. The purposes of the present study are to examine the attitudes toward women’s societal roles for a current sample of potential public accounting recruits, to compare sex-role attitudes between male and female respondents, and to begin the process of tracking historical changes in potential public accounting recruits’ attitudes toward women. Two hundred and twenty four accounting students from an Australian university completed the AWS between October 1998 and April 1999. The results showed the presence of sexist attitudes among potential public accounting recruits, and male respondents had more traditional attitudes toward the role of women in society relative to female respondents. Ceiling effects were observed for the scores of some females but the ability of the AWS to capture respondents’ beliefs remains valid. The paper concludes with a discussion of the effect of such attitudes on the careers of women accountants as well as policy implications for the accounting profession.