The point of my criticism was with the article itself, its theme and some of the quotes. The fact that someone feel the need to write an article profiling a very successful woman and focus on her “feminine” or other personal characteristics is, to me, an insult to her and bankrupt. There were too many references to her clothing, her tone of voice, and her demeanor, references that would never be part of an article about Sir Mike Rake, for example. Whether she does or doesn’t regret having children is not my business. Yes, she may be a role model, but I would want to know more about her management style, her areas of expertise, her clients and professional interests to decide if she is someone I could respect professionally and want to work for. I didn’t read much about that.

It may be easier for a single woman in public accounting to do the work, but I found that is not easier for one to to succeed to partner. A single woman who can do anything and more that a man does in that environment is seen by the men as a threat, in my opinion. She is not “feminine” enough. (There was a famous lawsuit on that topic at PwC, see below!) A “non-feminine” woman, by their definition does not fit into the family , suburban, wife at home and kids in the best schools model is still the norm given the majority of partners are men. And so we keep seeing these articles…

I have profiled women who are in senior positions in the firms – Deb DeHaas in Chicago at Deloitte is one of them. There are some others. I can also think of one I worked with and got to know at PwC here in Chicago, a wife, mother and very intelligent partner in a very difficult area, corporate fraud investigations. But she’s a serious, hard working, very driven person and I have no idea what’s that meant in terms of her family life, and personal relationships. As a professional and a person (she had some killer shoes!) I admired her, without worrying if she had a soft voice and a motherly nature, too. Are they role models to women or any other professionals? I don’t know. But you don’t become a role model by virtue of being one of the few to ascend to that level. Certainly many of the men at that level do not deserve that title.

The profile of many of the US female CEOs is either single or divorced and childless or married to a man who is “retired” and it’s a second marriage so she inherits his children or he takes care of theirs. I agree with you wholeheartedly regarding two full time jobs – partner in an accounting firm should not be one of them.

Accounting firm denies partnership to woman because she is not feminine enough; the Supreme Court finds sex discrimination, holding that employers cannot “evaluate employees by assuming or insisting that they match[] the stereotype associated with their group.” Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (1989).

I think that Anderson is Irish, not British. Are you implying that she isn’t feminine, or that you have a problem with feminine women? She sounds like a great role model to me. Working women need more of them, so what is the point of your criticism?

Do you know of any positive female role models currently working in public accounting? As I am sure you know, the killer hours in public accounting often do not allow one much of personal life. In that respect, it’s much easier for a single woman, than a married one.

As for myself, I made the decision a long time ago that I was much happier working less hours even if it meant less money. The real problem is with women who want to be on a fast-track to partner (or any other senior level position), but who want the workplace to accomodate the fact that they have two full-time jobs (accountant and mother.)

Perhaps the up-or-out model of the Big 4 is what needs to change.