Body Beautiful?
Wed, 05 May 2010 13:44:00 BST
On Wednesday 5 May, FEGReG welcomed guest speaker, Dr Kathryn Haynes, Reader in Accountancy at Aston University, who presented her paper, ‘Body Beautiful? Gender, Work and the Body in Professional Services Firms’.
During her fascinating seminar, Dr Haynes explored the professional identity formation of professionals and its relationship with their embodied physical image, focusing particularly on women in accounting and law. She also examined the role of the professional services firm in defining professional body image, socialisation processes that contribute to the definition of the professional body, the role of the client in defining professionalism, the legitimation of certain types of embodied identities, and the importance of the body in defining gendered perceptions of the self.
By examining the development of the professional identity of women in accounting and law, and drawing from interviews with contemporary practitioners, Dr Haynes considered whether notions of physical capital remain highly gendered. Her paper was well-received by the research group and led to an interesting discussion following the presentation.
