ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an up-to-date, systematic literature review of the research on the intersection between gender and family business published since then, outlining the status quo of the discussion and suggesting a research agenda to move the field forward. It briefly introduces the method used for our systematic literature review. The chapter presents the results along identified themes. The impact of having female members on the board of family businesses is investigated in a number of studies. Family-affiliated women are more common in companies that are small, have a concentrated ownership, are in the consumer sector, and have a larger board. Gender roles are deeply rooted in societal structures, which makes them difficult to change. Moreover, their taken-for-granted nature makes them difficult to identify. Socialization theory can help explicate their invisible nature. A fundamental part of socialization, ingrained since infancy, is the learning of gender roles.
