The son, sole legitimate successor of the family business ?

Christina Constantinidis is a researcher at the Quebec University and works on the transmission in through the prism of the genre. Her investigation of the speeches from Belgian family businesses leaders on their career reveals the son primogeniture as a natural successor whereas the daughter is seen as a heir by default.

According to her, the motivations and the commitment of the daughters in the firm are determined by the presence or not of a boy among the siblings. While they are fully integrated to the transmission cycles when kids are only females, they appear on the contrary erased when there is a son.

The author points out genre effects that condition the daughters’ careers within the family business and, in fine, their professional success. They form a supplementary difficulty that is added to a woman deficit of legitimacy in a sector in increasing majority composed by males.

Constandinis C. (2006). Les femmes repreneuses d’une entreprise familiale : difficultés et stratégies.