Social Accounting in Italy: The Pioneering Contribution of Women Scholars

Abstract

The theme of women scholars’ role and their contribution to initially promote social and environmental accounting and reporting is relatively new. Consequently there are many gaps to fill in concerning several topics developed within the aforementioned emerging research strand. Starting from this premise, the aim of this paper is to present a discussion about women “master pioneers” of social accounting in Italy. The research design develops through a deductive and inductive approach. The deductive approach is based on a literature review concerning social and environmental accounting and gender accounting. The inductive approach is empirically constructed and focused on the scientific and academic career of two Italian female scholars. The comparative analysis of the two cases helps to point out the relevance of women’s contribution as well as to “disclose” their role in promoting social and environmental accounting and reporting in Italy.