‘A life in the shadows’: Australian women and family business succession, 1910–2018

Abstract This article examines gendered succession of Australia's large family companies between 1910 and 2018. It finds that female family members were not prepared to succeed, and their role in family companies was restricted by expectations of gender and class, and ideals of male lineage. As such, women were expected to perform social, domestic and philanthropic labour in service of the company, but were consistently overlooked for succession. This highlights the way family companies conferred both wealth and inequality to women, as well as the intersection between gendered succession decisions and the structures of Australian society.