The specific purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine the interrelationship between
gender and dependent children on the career progression of men and women accountants
employed by multinational accounting firms in two countries, Singapore and Australia.
It follows the feminist empiricist (FE) research approach that challenges the exclusion
of women from senior positions in prestigious professions. While FE has been criticised
for investigating one group of women being accepted into the male dominated profes-
sions (Hammon and Oakes, 1991), sexual equality will less likely to occur until women
constitute about half of the executive positions (International Labor Organization, 2004).
Ridgeway (2001) describes gender as an institutionalised but insidious system of social
practices whereby gender stereotypes have status beliefs that associate greater status wor-
thiness and competence with men than with women. Further, all women are affected by
the gender system and even wealthy powerful women are disadvantaged by gender status
beliefs compared to their male counterparts.