We're thrilled to announce that the Babson Global Family Entrepreneurship Network now has a founding families cohort. Our founding members hail from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, Central America, and the USA and have businesses in a wide range of industries including logistics, food and beverage, private equity, banking, healthcare, spirits, energy, packaging, utilities, and technology. About half of our members are parents of current Babson students.  

Women, Family, and Family Businesses Across Entrepreneurial Contexts, a new book edited by F.W. Olin Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship Candida Brush, is a collection of papers presented at the 2021 Diana International Conference in Nice, France (conference held online). There is extensive work that examines all aspects of family leadership succession, business and family governance, innovation, internationalization, the role of siblings, corporate entrepreneurship, etc. But less often is the role of women considered in family businesses.

This book provides an overview of the state of the art on the respective family impact on women entrepreneurship and women’s place in family businesses and identifies research gaps in both areas. In one respect, we also consider how these two streams of literature can inform each other. Overall, most papers suggest women are still serving traditional roles within family businesses and still find it difficult to establish their place in family businesses. Women pursuing entrepreneurial goals also face challenges with child care and in gaining their spouses' support for their entrepreneurial activities. However, with a heightened understanding of the challenges, we begin to also identify opportunities for progress and new research possibilities to expand women’s roles and successes in both areas.