The Glass Ceiling In Accounting: Women In Leadership Roles

While the nation debates the issue of women’s reservation in Parliament, there is a need for the profession to introspect the issue closer home. We have witnessed a significant rise in female Chartered Accountancy qualifiers, now making up 48% of pass-outs, a record high. The overall representation of women CAs has also surged to 30%, up from a mere 8% in 2000. It's not just the numbers, but also the talent, more than 75 women aspirants have topped CA exams at different levels in the last decade¹.

Despite the talent and intellect, for over seventy-five years, the ICAI has never seen a woman president². Even globally and in the context of professional practice, the glass wall remained just as sturdy until 2024, when Janet Truncale shattered the final frontier to become the first female Global CEO of a Big Four firm (Ernst & Young)³.

1 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/108627341.cms? utm_source= contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

2 https://icai.org/post/past-president

3 https://www.ft.com/content/0213a7c4-1a0c-4bb7-9851-eb2dd8a93b86

These contrasting facts are indicators of a profound, systemic inertia. Women enter the accounting profession in near-parity, yet during the course of career ascent, the pyramid sharpens into a needle poi