Abstract for: The Problem with the Problem: Asking Better Questions About the Gender Leadership Gap

The gender leadership gap in Big Four public accounting firms persists despite decades of research and policy intervention. Women represent 23% of partners in 2023, up from 16% in 2009 — a slow pace that suggests parity would be reached in 2055, and only if the total number of partners grows nearly fourfold. Under-developed problem statements are a primary contributor to ineffective policy responses. This paper uses system dynamics problem formulation tools - reference modes, dynamic hypotheses, and exploratory simulation - to iteratively articulate the gender leadership gap in the Big Four. Three analytical cycles move from surface-level representation data to structural reframing, grounding each cycle in prior theory, and landing on a sub-system view for the next simulation cycle. Three cycles of problem articulation reveal progressively deeper leverage points. The marble model shows that equal hiring cannot close the gap from unequal starting conditions. Dissertation findings reframe the problem from differential progression to differential attrition - women and men who make partner do so in comparable time - shifting attention to who leaves before the partner decision point. We conclude with a sub-system diagram that highlights the most meaningful variables that interact with career structure. Career structures designed as professional pipelines now function as structural filters that disproportionately disadvantage women. Attending to feedback dynamics and delays within the career structure - rather than isolated events — reveals more meaningful leverage points. To clean up my own writing and to assist with forecasted charts. All work and content is original.