This article focuses on how family business succession research has engaged and may be further enriched by application of a gender lens as socially constructed. We analyze the succession literature developing a gender terms vocabulary and five themes of historical engagement. Finding a lack of theoretical grounding, we apply the construct of gender, through expectation states theory, revising the Sharma and Irving model of successor commitment to examine how a socially constructed view of gender shifts and opens up points of view. We then present a forward looking agenda to motivate future scholarship.

While women-owned ventures represent an increasing proportion of new businesses in most western countries, most of them have particular financing patterns and encounter barriers in their access to financing. Recent research on the question argues that barriers to financing are mainly dependent on factors other than gender, such as owner-and firm-related characteristics. This quantitative and qualitative study, through descriptive statistics and interview analysis, examines the relationship between financing patterns and barriers and gender from the woman entrepreneur's viewpoint. It explores the behaviours and representations of women entrepreneurs towards financing, and considers to what extent the women see their own approaches as being different from those of men. Our study suggests that a gender effect still exists, and tries to identify its location and the corresponding implications for further research and action.

We engage a gender analysis, including consideration of the social phenomena of separation and hierarchy, to consider the role, condition and aspirations of daughters of family enterprise as they consider the option of family entrepreneurship. From this perspective we examine the extant literature and present findings from two exploratory empirical research efforts, one in Belgium and one in the U.S., to better understand internationally how daughters perceive their leadership paths in the family business. We take into consideration growing social acceptance of women’s leadership, and women’s own career-mindedness, which influence traditional views of the opportunities for daughters inside and outside of the family business. Research avenues and practical recommendations to support successful succession of daughters are discussed.

Purpose Studies on women’s entrepreneurship in Morocco are scarce, despite the potential of women for the country’s economy. This research takes place in a socio-cultural environment searching for a compromise between tradition and modernity. Families occupy a prominent place in Morocco, directly influencing women’s activities. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of family in Moroccan women’s entrepreneurial success. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative research is based on 60 interviews with women entrepreneurs in Morocco, including women business owners, women professionals and also women co-operators who have not been documented until now, due to data accessibility. It is diversified in terms of personal, family and professional characteristics. The analysis uses an intersectionality framework taking gender and social class into consideration. Findings The results highlight three categories of women entrepreneur: the “elite”, the “self-made women” and the “co-operators”. Each category is characterised by specific familial and professional realities, underpinned by differentiated dynamics in terms of gender and social class. Practical implications The study, from a practical point of view, contributes to a better understanding of the differentiated realities encountered in terms of women’s entrepreneurship, in the Moroccan context. Originality/value Studies in developing countries tend to consider women entrepreneurs as a homogeneous group. This research highlights the fact that family support, women entrepreneurs’ practices and their role in entrepreneurial success depend on the background situations in terms of gender and social class. It also contributes to the entrepreneurial success field, revealing different definitions and perceptions of success among women entrepreneurs.

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