Women's Roles in Family Businesses

FAMILY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE
TEAM OF LECTURERS
UNIVERSITAS PELITA HARAPAN
Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan 2016
MEETING 4:
WOMEN IN FAMILY BUSINESS
Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan
TOPICS TO COVER
1. Women and the Family Business (Bjursell and Backvall

2011, 3-6).
2. Obstacles related to Women in Family Business (Jimenez

2009, 54-57).
3. Roles of Women in Family Business (Bjursell and Backvall

2011, 6-8; Cesaroni and Sentuti 2014, 365-368).

1 Women and the Family Business
Historical analyses reveal that women have been supporting

family businesses for centuries: for example, women have
contributed to successful family businesses in Spain (Galvez
Munoz and Fernandez Perez, 2007) and in Greece since at
least the eighteen century (Pepelasis Minoglou 2007).
Contemporary studies show that family business women are
more likely than women in non-family firms to enter the
business arena and achieve leadership positions (Barrett and
Moores 2009a, 2009b; Harveston, Davis and Lyden 1997).
1 Women and the Family Business
The challenge to the conventional division of male roles in the

professional arena and female roles in the private arena may
influence the roles ascribed to or taken on by women in family
business.
In family business research, it has been shown that women
take on important but subtle roles in the family business,
helping to achieve continuity and growth of the family firm
(Martinez Jimenez 2009). These roles are related, however, to
the private setting rather than the professional setting.
2 Obstacles related to Women in Family Business
Various obstacles related to women working in her own

family business as follow:
1. Womens invisibility
2. Emotional leadership
3. Succession and Primogeniture

2
Obstacles related to Women in Family Business:
Womens Invisibility
Different gender stereotypes exist in society, and women suffer
discrimination, which stops them from reaching positions of
responsibility or at least slows their progress. Family firms are
not immune to this discrimination or these stereotypes (Jaffe,
1990; Salganicoff, 1990a)
Occupational segregation, underrepresentation in upper-level
management, and expectations about traditional family roles
can restrict women to certain industrial sectors and affect their
motivation and goals for their business ventures (Aldrich 1989).
2
Womens Invisibility
Womens professional responsibilities outside the home
traditionally took second place to their obligations to administer
and manage the domestic, emotional, and social life of the family
(Gillis-Donovan & Moynihan-Bradt 1990; Lyman, Salganicoff, &
Hollander 1985; Moen 1992). Men, however, traditionally
organized their lives around the demands of their work (Hood
1986)
The strength of these traditional family roles, both in soci-ety and
in family, keeps womens contributions in family firms from
becoming better known (Lyman et al. 1985).
2
Womens Invisibility
However, Galiano and Vinturella (1995) pointed out, women has traditionally been in
feminine areas, such as human resources, dealing with customers, sales support,
and so on. This unpaid work con- tributes, directly and indirectly, to the economic
well-being of the family and, consequently, that of the firm. It includes household
tasks, bringing up the children, caring for ill or elderly relatives, helping the husband
in his work, and man- aging the family finances (Voydanoff 1990).
Another important finding of Rowe and Hong (2000) study of 498 house- holds in
which the family participated in a family firm, is that the women who were working in
family firms sometimes did not earn salaries, and when they did, their salaries were
lower than the mens more evidence that womens work is undervalued.

2
Emotional Leadership
Perhaps the most important traditional role that women play
in the family firm has been to care for the peace and
harmony in the family and in the firm and to help avoid the
appearance of conflicts between the relatives who work
together in the firmparticularly, the founder and his son.
Thus, women have traditionally mediated between them, in
an attempt to maintain stability in the personal and business
relationships, and they have taken on the role of care- taker
for their father and the business (Dumas, 1989).
2
Frishkoff and Brown (1993) argued that even if the
woman were not an employee or stockholder, she should
certainly be considered a stakeholder in terms of risk,
effort, and commit-ment to the company.
Lyman et al. (1985) also argued that the position of
women, as carers of the familys affairs, can give them a
unique knowledge about both the family and the
business.
2
Also extremely important is womens role in the trans- mission
of the values of both the family and the firm to the children
through their upbringingwhat Dugan et al. (2008) called
nurturer of the next generation of leaders. According to
these authors:
as they raise their children, they transmit the values to the next
generation that will be so vital to business continuity and successvalues
such as hard work, caring about the people around you and understanding
that the family should serve the business, not abuse or exploit it. (p. 23)
2
In this respect, some authors use the term emotional leadership or chief
emotional officer (Lyman, 1988; Salganicoff, 1990b; Ward, 1987). Ward (1987)
Considered that women carry out their task of emotional leadership in the
family firm and that they frequently do so unrecognized: They interpret the
behavior of one family member to another, they keep the communication
channel open, they ensure that feelings are considered, and they plan special
family functions.
In a classification of spousal role types, Poza and Messer (2001) referred to
this aspect in two of six categories: chief trust officer and senior advisor
and keeper of the family values.
2
Succession and Primogeniture
Womens invisibility and the stereotypical roles they assume are also
evident when analyzing the processes by which daughters join the
family firm and when analyzing the processes of succession, in which
women are rarely considered serious candidates to succeed to lead-
ershipusually, during a crisis or when the founder has no sons
(Curimbaba 2002; Dumas 1992, 1998; Haberman & Danes 2007).
This is largely due to the fact that many family firms conduct these
processes follow- ing the primogeniture criterion, according to which
the firstborn male child will eventually take over the family firm
(DArquer 1992; Llano & Olguin 1986).

2
Probably as a consequence of these implicit rules, women
do not often even think about joining their family firms
when considering their future career options (Dumas,
1992; Goldberg & Wooldridge, 1993; Vera & Dean, 2005).
Many authors criticize the primogeniture criterion and
recommend that firms plan participation and succession
based on criteria related to the abilities of each candidate,
not to gender (Bertaso Barbieri 1997; Dumas, Dupuis,
Richer, & St.-Cyr 1995; Nelton 1998, 1999).
2
Various researchers find that women face a difficult role
conflict,3 namely, between the expected family role (i.e., filling
the needs of the family, being a good wife and mother) and the
expected business role (i.e., their own career needs; Dumas,
1990; Hollander & Bukowitz, 1990; Lyman, 1988).
Women are aware that they cannot be superwomen, capable
of perfectly responding to all the subsystems surrounding them
(their family, the firm, and themselves); so, they have to sacri-
fice one to triumph in another. The problem is that they can feel
guilty if they neglect the family to succeed in the firm
2
All this can lead women to feel unsure about what to do and in which
direction to head (Freudenberger et al., 1989). Thus, they can
choose between:
(a) assuming these traditional roles and sacrificing their career aims
and
(b) pursuing their professional careersin which case, they will have
to face some recrimination from their families and third parties, as
well as risk giving a masculine, aggressive image of themselves.

3 Roles of Women in Family Business (1)
Women play a key role in the creation of family wealth,

but they have been ignored and marginalized from
management and ownership (Mulholland, 2003).
Women roles in family business based on this research:
(a) women as invisible in family business, (b) women
moving into business via succession, and (c) business
women active in the firm.

3
Roles of Women in Family Business:
Womens Invisibility
The family business is portrayed as a network of male family
members, while the private setting is portrayed as belonging to
women (Wigren 2003; Pettersson 2002).
Invisible women are family members, wives, mothers, daughters,
etc., who have power and influence over the business but do not
have formal roles or titles (Gillis- Donovan and Moynihan-Bradt 1990).
Although not always recognized, women in family business actually
contitute core elements of the business partnership (Mulholland
2003).

3
Women moving into Business via Succession
In succession, studies of the father-daughter dyad
complement knowledge on father-son dyads (Haberman
and Danes, 2007; Dumas, 1989, 1990; Salganicoff,
1990).
When daughters enter the business in a succession
process, shifts in identities and roles create tensions, but
over time the daughters learn to work with their fathers
in a collaborative way (Dumas, 1992).
3
Women moving into Business via Succession
In patriarchal/familistic cultural systems, daughters are less likely
to be systematically trained and prepared for leadership roles in
the family business (Howorth and Assaraf Ali 2001; Perricone,
Earle and Taplin, 2001; Dumas, Dupuis, Richer and St.-Cyr 1995),
making gender awareness in the succession planning process
crucial (Harveston, Davis and Lyden 1997).
Daughters have been shown to take on roles in emerging,
strategically important areas, whereas sons take on roles that are
more in line with the way things have been done in the past
(Garcia-Elvare, Lopez-Sintas and Gonzalvo 2002).
3
Roles of Women in Family Business
Business women active in the firm
Family intensity, the number of family investors and family
members employed are important for women entrepreneurs
(Gundry and Welsch 1994), as well as personnel management
(Danes, Stafford and Teik-Cheok Loy 2007) and the gender type
of the business (Wicker and Burley 1991).
Advantages of entering a career in the family business could
include avoidance of the glass ceiling phenomena that might
exist in other businesses (Cole 1997), as well as higher incomes
and more flexibility in terms of work schedules (Salganicoff
1990).
3
Business women active in the firm
Traditional expectations, however, can still partly explain why
daughters are not always seen as potential future managers of
the business (Harveston, Davis and Lyden, 1997). The balance
between seemingly contrasting roles, such as mother and
manager, is believed to cause difficulties for women as they
face the expectations of traditional roles (Cole, 1997).
Generalizations of women in family business as a homogenous
group, however, are neither fruitful nor representative.

3 Roles of Women in Family Business (2)
According to Cesaroni and Sentuti 2014, 365-368, here

are roles of women in family business:
Formal and Substantive Role
Only Formal Role
Absent Role

3
Roles of Women in Family Business (2):
Formal and Substantive Role
Women who work in the family firm with both formal and
substantial role have a clearly defined organizational position.
They may be involved in the business ownership (as
shareholders, partners, co-owners, etc.), in the corporate
direction (e.g. as boards member) and/or in the business
management (e.g. as manager).
In addition to having a formal role, women in this group also
perform tasks associated with their organizational positions
and hold powers and responsibilities connected with them.
3
Only Formal Role
Women with only formal role have an organizational position in the
business, generally in the ownership but they do not perform any
real work and do not exercise any power associated with their
formal role.
This is the case of women members of the board of directors, who
are not really involved in the boards decision making, as they only
share choices and decisions made by other members, often male
family members. These women therefore have no relevance in
strategic decisions and their presence has no real
authoritativeness and decision-making power.
3
Absent Role
Women who work in the family firm without any role.
While performing a number of tasks in the family firms
(book-keeping, secretarial, and so on), they do not have
any formal organizational position.

3 Roles of Women in Family Business (2): Conclusion

THANK YOU
FAMILY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE | UNIVERSITAS PELITA HARAPAN 2016

Women's Roles in Family Businesses

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FAMILY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE

1. Women and the Family Business (Bjursell and Backvall

2. Obstacles related to Women in Family Business (Jimenez

3. Roles of Women in Family Business (Bjursell and Backvall

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

Historical analyses reveal that women have been supporting

The challenge to the conventional division of male roles in the

Various obstacles related to women working in her own

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

Women play a key role in the creation of family wealth,

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

According to Cesaroni and Sentuti 2014, 365-368, here

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

Family Business Enterprise | Universitas Pelita Harapan

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