Religion-based resistance strategies, politics of authenticity and professional women accountants

This study examines resistance strategies to patriarchal interpretations of women’s roles in Islam by Syrian women accountants (SWAs). It expands discussions on gender subjectivity construction and resistance in the profession by focusing on women’s religion-based strategies in a non-western context. The study introduces debates from Muslim Feminism on resistance through egalitarian and ethical-based re-interpretations of religious texts. It parallels these with ordinary professional Muslim women accountants’ strategies. The article finds that SWAs significantly mobilise religion-based strategies to contest patriarchal interpretations of their roles in Islam, and to secure access and progress in the profession. These strategies go beyond shifting between defensive/compliance and offensive/challenging approaches to incorporate a third authentic/ethical dimension often neglected in professional and organisation research on women’s resistance strategies. The paper concludes that a greater theoretical and empirical understanding of resistance within religion and ethics enhances appreciation of distinctive and diverse ways that gendering in professions is resisted and transformed