Traditionally, women in family firms have roles that are closely linked to the family, i.e. spouse, mother or in-law, instead of a prominent and formal business-related position, such as CEO or CFO. These roles have traditionally been more closely associated with male family members (Arjis, 2013). However, the literature on family firms indicates that the role of women in these firms is changing. Women have become more visible and more incorporated into family businesses. A more positive vibe surrounds women’s opportunities and the possibilities offered to them by a family firm in terms of career opportunities, management positions and leadership (Gupta and Levenburg, 2013; Jimenez, 2009). Empirical studies on female corporate leadership exist, but the results are unclear and need more investigation. For example, Adams and Ferreira (2009) find an ambiguous effect of female directors on firm performance, and Dezso¨ and Ross (2012) report that female leadership is beneficial in some contexts. Most previous studies investigate large listed firms, with very few examining smaller non-listed firms. Systematic empirical research on women in family firms is even scarcer and requires further analysis[1]. One area that has been examined is how female leaders function in family firms and what their obstacles are (Danes and Olson, 2003; Gnan and Songini, 2013; Jimenez, 2009). However, studies that link female ownership with leadership positions are missing. To fill this gap and to extend our knowledge on women in family firms, this paper investigates the effects of women in managerial positions, as members of the board of directors and as owners of the firm on firm-level profitability. A special focus is on familyowned enterprises. The following research question addresses the issue of female governance on firm performance: RQ1. Is the effect of female governance different in family firms compared with that in non-family firms? This study relates to recent research on female leadership in family firms. A study by Amore et al. (2014) appears to resemble our study the most. They have adopted a similar approach to ours, but it differs in important aspects: they study only family firms, they do not compare family with non-family firms and they do not consider female ownership. Their hypotheses are grounded in a theoretical framework that posits that female directors and leaders function better in cooperation with the same sex. By contrast, we also stress discrimination as an important explanation. The paper makes empirical and practical contributions to the literature on family firms and to the corporate governance literature in general. Our main empirical contribution is our investigation of the effect of female corporate leaders on firm performance and our comparison of this effect between family and non-family firms.