Women know make up over 40% of full-time accounting professionals in the UK, but it hasn’t always been that way.
Women struggled to enter the profession when it took on its organised form on the 19th Century. Many professions did not admit women and the accountancy professional bodies that formed at this time were no exception, in fact many actively discouraged women members. Charles Kemp, ICAEW President in 1895 commented that he would be so embarrassed by the admission of women that he would rather retire than consider it. Thankfully, much has changed in 100 years!
Mary Harris Smith (18474 – 1934) was the first female member to be admitted to the ICAEW in May 1920, at the age of 75! By then, she had already had a long career in the profession, setting up her own practice in Westminster in 1887. She became the first women to complete the ICAEW qualification but was repeatedly dined membership because she was a women.
The passing of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act in 1919 made it illegal for the ICAEW to continue to bar women from membership. Mary renewed her application to the ICAEW the same year. In May 1920, at the age of 75! she was admitted as a fellow of ICAEW and became the first female to be able to call herself a chartered accountant.
To commemorate the centenary of her membership, a blue plaque was commissioned and displayed on the City of London Magistrates’ Court, on the corner of Queen Victoria Street and Bucklersbury, close to the site of her office. It is only the third blue plaque in the City of London to commemorate an individual women.
Although the profession has come a long way in 100 years, there is still much to do to ‘level up’. A recent gender pay gap report showed that the top 20 firms have an overall median pay gap higher than the national average, with men earning around 15% – 20% more than women.
Change will not happen over night and many firms have put policies and initiatives in place to improve gender inequality across the profession, but more can always be done.
Happy International Women’s Day to all those inspirational women in finance who are the role models for the next generation of women shaping the profession #BreakTheBias #IWD2022