This qualitative study examines how women accountants experience trauma across different career stages. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 45 certified women accountants in Australia, we find that trauma emerges and often overlaps across all age groups. Informed by feminist trauma theory and Maté’s (2022) definition of trauma as a disruption relative to normality, our analysis reveals an intricate and continuous interplay between patriarchy and the lived experiences of women accountants. By situating trauma at the intersection of psychological and sociological understandings, this study contributes to the literature on gender and accounting by deepening understanding of the lived experiences of women accountants. It also enriches the broader sociology of the profession by documenting the analytical value of adopting a holistic perspective on professional life across career stages. Furthermore, this study advances diversity literature in accounting by highlighting the unique forms of trauma that women accountants experience, particularly where gender intersects with other social dimensions such as age, and ethnicity.