First female council members

First female council member of a UK accountancy body

Phyliss Elizabeth Marie Ridgway became the first female council member of a UK professional accountancy body when she was elected to the Council of the Society of Incorporated Accountants in 1940.

A graduate of London University, she had qualified as an Incorporated Accountant in 1922 after serving articles to her father, G.A. Ridgway FSAA, the first woman to became an associate of the SIAA from articleship. She became a partner in her father's firm in Hull in 1929.

At the time of her appointment to the Council, she was a Justice of the Peace for Hull and a member of the Executive of the British Federation of University Women and of the Hull 'A' Group Hospital Management Committee. She had previously been President of the Hull District Society of Incorporated Accountants. As the SIAA (then called the SIA) merged with the ICAEW in 1957 she was the only woman to serve on the Society's council.

• Read more about early female pioneers of the SIAA

First female ICAEW council members

Jane Robinson and Mary Yale were the first female members of ICAEW's Council in 1979.

Jane Robinson

Jane Robinson was educated at the Convent of Notre Dame, Southwark, and in Munich. She worked as a bi-lingual secretary before signing her accountancy articles at 21, training with London firm J.Dix-Lewis, Caesar, Duncan & Co (later merged with Robson Rhodes).

She was technical editor at Accountancy magazine from 1973-1975 before becoming a training manager at Edward Moore. After a brief sabbatical in the advertising industry she returned to Edward Moore in 1978 as a training partner. She was the firm’s first female partner. The firm wanted to contribute more to ICAEW and so she spent time on committee work on her return.

In 1979 she became a member of ICAEW council. She had previously been chairman of the Education Sub-Committee of the London Society of Chartered Accountants and the examination system was a particular area of interest when she took office. She served on the Council until 1984 and was a member of several standing committees including the Examinations Committee (1980-82), Members' Education and Training Committee (1981-1982) and Smaller Practitioner Committee (1983-84).

Mary Yale

Mary Yale won a number of ICAEW prizes as a student. She was a tax partner with Thomson McLintock & Co. when she became a member of ICAEW council in 1979. She served on the Council until 1995 and was a member of a number of standing committees, particularly the Ethics and Parliamentary & Law Committees in her early years as a councillor. Later on she was regularly a member of the Tax committee and Professional Conduct Directorate.

Further reading

Roche, S. 'Two women on Institute Council (but only one wants to be president),' Accountancy, July 1979, Vol. 90 Issue 1031, p13-13. 1/2p. (2 Black and White Photographs)

'Jane Robinson goes back to old firm as a partner,' Accountancy, Nov. 1978, Vol. 89 Issue 1023, p32-32. 1/3p. (1 Black and White Photograph)