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Ethel Ayres Purdie: Critical practitioner and suffragist

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  • 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
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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.
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    Cited by:

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    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.

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