La construction de l’identité des femmes experts-comptables en France : rendre compte de la construction de l’identité : la négociation du soi chez les femmes experts-comptables.

摘要

The thesis is positioned at the confluence of literature on gender, professions and identity and aims to contribute to the understanding of the processes of identity construction of women public accountants. The empirical data presented in this dissertation is based on over forty semi-structured biographic interviews with women and men, CPAs and trainees. My method was built progressively as a result of my immersion in the field and of my personal experience as a woman and professional accountant. Based on my findings, I highlighted the existence of an approved organizational path characterized by linear, constant upward mobility and submitted to organizational norms. This professional model, constructed as masculine, does not appeal to a majority of women, and especially mothers, who decide to have recourse to alternative professional models. Although promoted by the firms, these models lack the legitimacy of approved routes and often imply a derailment of women’s careers right from the early days because previous choices may limit the range of choices available in the future. My study is focused on the construction of women CPA’s professional identity and of its interaction with motherhood. I show that in constructing their identity women dwell on socially defined roles and organizationally available discourses that may be in contradiction with each other. Thus, women attempting to construct themselves as both good professional and mother may experience identity tensions. Nevertheless, their identities are not fragmented, but are the result of a continuous effort to integrate contradictory discourses in an ongoing biography. In addition, I highlight two types of strategies that women professional accountants use: strategies concerning family and strategies concerning work. Their analysis allow me to draw the conclusion that women CPA impose new work practices that are mostly adaptive practices and do not aim to alter the current ones.