Women in Business Families From Past to Present [Hardcover]

For centuries, almost all economic activity was family-based. The family business rested on the division of labor among family members. Therefore the family was both socially and economically the foundation of the family business. Families were not only production units, but also education and consumption units that conveyed norm structures, values and professional identity to next generation. Although female family members have always been active participants in family businesses over the centuries, their role has often been neglected in previous studies.

Women in Business Families: From Past to Presentpresents both conceptual and theoretically informed empirical papers addressing three related themes relevant for family business and gender in past and in present: heroic women entrepreneurs; invisibility / visibility of women in businesses; and business succession.

The book Women in Business Families: From Past to Presentbalances between both historical and contemporary analyses. The chapters integrate the notions of time and gender in focusing on family businesses or business families in past and in present. This volume will be of vital reading to researchers and academics in the fields of Gender Studies, Family Business, Organizational studies, Entrepreneurship and the various related disciplines.

Introduction

1. From household economy to family business

Jarna Heinonen and Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen

2. Gender, Economy and Time

Seppo Poutanen

Section I: Challenging the heroic male image of entrepreneurs

3. Tough times, tough measures: Widows as heroic entrepreneurs

Anu Lahtinen

4. The Iron Lady. Elin S?ger: Head of a Fl3-