Seminar

Feminist Accountability and its Role in Overcoming Gender-based Oppressions

An Exploration into the Time’s Up Organization as a Social Movement toward Eliminating Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
10 May 2022
Start time 
9:00 am
Palazzo di Economia - Via Inama 5, Trento
Seminar Room - first floor
Organizer: 
Doctoral School of Social Sciences
Target audience: 
Everyone
Attendance: 
Free
Contact details: 
school.socialsciences@unitn.it
Speaker: 
Andrea M. Romi - Texas Tech University

Abstract

In an effort to bring about social change, individuals often form groups opposing the social and regulatory institutions perpetuating their oppressions. Leaders within social movements often espouse accountability as key to the potential success of their efforts. Prior research has examined accountability within social movements, but social movements are not all the same, nor are the strategies effective for each.

We introduce the concept of feminist accountability to the accounting literature and discuss its potential to contribute to a greater understanding of accountability, both within the literature in general and within the success of social movements focused on gender oppressions more specifically. We incorporate a feminist methodology, focused on the margins in, in interviewing 33 individuals working with, or affected by, the Time’s Up movement, focused on eradicating pervasive sexual harassment in the workplace.

While we recognize many intentional efforts aligned with feminist accountability, our findings suggest that individuals within the movement fall short of feminist accountability in terms of representative and inclusive leadership; an understanding of their own perpetuation of sexual harassment oppressions by relying on the legal, neo-liberal, capitalist frameworks; a lack of fundamental focus on those most oppressed by sexual harassment; and an overall focus on punishment while ignoring the potentially larger impact of a community learning and transformational process.

Bio

Andrea Romi is an Associate Professor within the School of Accounting, and the Co-Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University. After receiving both hxr undergraduate and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Missouri, Andrea went on to earn hxr PhD from the University of Arkansas. Andrea is a social and environmental activist conducting critical research on the role of accounting in the social and environmental phenomena facing the world.

Shx has worked with The Sustainability Consortium, among other leading research institutions and international auditing firms, toward developing uniform, industry-wide sustainability measurement and assurance standards. Toward this goal, Andrea also has immersed hxrself within non-governmental organizations and regulatory institutions (e.g., CERES, AICPA, and SEC) to gain practical experience concerning policy strategy as it relates to sustainability.

Andrea’s most recent work relies on feminist methodologies, feminist theories, and accounting frameworks to critically examine inequities and oppressions systemic to society, including the Time’s Up movement and the semi-legal adult-use cannabis industry within the US. Dr. Romi’s work has been published in prestigious journals including Contemporary Accounting Research; Critical Perspectives on Accounting; Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory; Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal; European Accounting Review; Accounting Forum; Journal of Accounting and Public Policy; Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, among others. While hxr work is often cited by global media outlets, more importantly to hxr, it has been utilized to lobby congress toward social and environmental policy changes.

Romi is often invited to share her expertise on panels, through keynotes, and in presentations, while shx continues to serve on numerous departmental, college, university, international committees, and acts as an associate editor at two international journals.