(En)gendering sustainability

In this essay, I explore the usefulness of gender, in examining sustainability concerns about the future of the accounting academy. In doing so, I differentiate between gender as a biological variable and gender as a concept. Gender as a variable focuses our attention on demographic issues such as numbers of women. Gender as a concept directs our attention toward the institutional framework within which accounting academics (men and women) currently operate. Rather than assuming that increasing numbers of women can fundamentally change the academy, gender as a concept allows us to explore the over-emphasis upon the masculine in the gendering of the good academic accountant. This imbalance unduly limits the openness of the academy including its intellectual heterogeneity and the sorts of values that are promoted within it.