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Three accounting professionals have spoken out about the importance of backing female practitioners to mark this year’s International Women’s Day.
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Why accountants should get involved in International Women’s Day
08 March 2022
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Speaking to Accountants Daily, Kylie Maher, Lana Weldon and Kaisee Chwalko from Moore Australia shared their experiences in accounting, including the challenges they’ve had to overcome as a woman in the profession.
For Ms Chwalko, the stigma of being a “working mother”, as well as being a “part-time worker”, has been one of the primary challenges she’s had to address throughout her career, despite her noting that neither are relevant to her ability in being able to do her job as well as anyone else in the profession.
“Firms can do more to encourage women into roles that allow people to be faced with the clear fact that they need to stop seeing women as any different in their ability, willingness and commitment to create brilliant careers,” Ms Chwalko said.
“Women need to be given the stage to be loud on this issue without any backlash. Women, like men, should be the sum of their work product and this should be evaluated objectively with clear KPIs, not through anecdotal performance reviews or based on the ‘face’ time spent in the office.”
For Ms Maher the challenge of being a woman in accounting has not been felt as much in the profession as it has when dealing with clients.
“Over the years, I have found my workplaces very supportive of work-life balance and the many different family situations. However, when delivering to clients this has been more of a challenge.
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“Their deadlines and understanding of your situation as a service provider has not always provided or great mothering or great consulting outcomes. I have found that being open and honest with clients on why I am prioritising family, children or even a break over them has actually been the turning point.”
Ms Weldon acknowledged that the profession “has come leaps and bounds” over the past few decades when it comes to recognising challenges people face, particularly when it comes to parenthood, however flagged it’s important for everyone to contribute to the #BreaktheBias conversation – the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day.
“I have first-hand seen the debilitating effects bias and discrimination can have on individuals, communities and society. On the other side, I have seen how even the smallest amount of support or acknowledgement can have major positive impacts on people,” Ms Weldon said.
“I feel extremely lucky that I grew up with a sense of ability and the opportunity to make choices in my life, when so many haven’t. To me, #BreaktheBias is about enabling people to make decisions and providing education to give the opportunity of choice.
“I believe #BreaktheBias is so much wider than just gender. We all have unconscious biases whether they be based on language, culture, age, education, ability or gender. Our profession is so important in terms of protecting the public interest. Therefore raising awareness of any type of bias is definitely in the public interest.”
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