Family businesses are the prevailing economic organizations in Veneto region, where the research took place. They are especially representative of made in Italy recognized productions as wine. The intergenerational handover is the focus of many studies committed to avoid the "decline of social capital" (Putnam, 1995) of the area, whereas entrepreneurial families (and their ethos, practical knowledge, capital) are considered one of its cornerstones. My study aims to observe this process from a gender perspective, undertaking a Pierre Bourdieu approach. The empirical research is based on the collection and analysis of 32 in-depth interviews with members of family businesses (fathers and daughters) representative of 15 case studies (12 intergenerational handovers and 3 âfirst generationâ female entrepreneurs). We involved also expert qualified witnesses (working in wine business but with a de-centred view on wine family businesses) for further three interviews. The analysis is therefore based on 35 in-depth interviews: they are in between of "life stories" (Bertaux, 1999) and "focused interviews" (Merton, 1987). The cases were chosen with a theoretical sampling (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), referring to the main dimensions of 'transmission' identified. It has been possible to observe different trajectories of the same "class situation" (Bertaux, 1999) constituted by the transmission from father to daughter. The four main dimensions are: a) business or corporation material legacy; b) embodiment of different types of entrepreneurial practice; c) positioning processes in family and firms; d) work-life balance and gendered work division observed in the process of family reproduction. The territory where the research took place sees a progressive growth of women entrepreneurship in terms of ownership: in Veneto about 24% of farms are registered in women's name (ISTAT Census, 2011), compared to 21,5% of overall entrepreneurship (Angelini, Girardi, Marzella, Olive, Toschi, 2012). This work aims to how daughters incorporate the substantial position of leadership in the family business: a position that has historically been associated with fathers / husbands or other male figures. The theoretical approach adopted considers entrepreneurial motivations, stakes and incorporations of practices and professional positions as expressions of gender habitus (Bourdieu, 1983 & 1998) situated both in family and firm. We are situated in a field of ambivalences. In an historically masculine order we find the representation of equal "gender contracts" (Pateman, 1988) that tend to place women in the structural position of "outsider within" (Collins, 1986). Gender relations are organized by the ambivalence of "domination" and "freedom" (Bimbi, 2013) and family businesses are particularly interesting to analyze: located on the border of public and private spheres they seems to favor a easier work-life balance for some figures of women entrepreneurs (Jones, 2005) even if those organizations have to organize an intensive cycle of production and reproduction (Mingione, 1997) exposed to market forces. In some studies the organizational autonomy related to the ownership of the company is recognized as one of the specific reasons for women to choose to engage in entrepreneurship (De Vita, 2009). Reading the conciliation of work and family across the generational handover, related to the arrangements of the intensive production/reproduction cycle (Mingione, 1997), it's possible to observe the matter of recognition (Fraser, 2008; Pizzorno, 1988) of women-heirs as entrepreneurs and their exposure to habitus tensions. The problem of the daughter's double presence (Balbo, 1978; Bimbi, 1985; Mingione, 2010) is one (not the only one) of the dissonances between the gender of the entrepreneur and the gender of the organization (Bruni, Gherardi and Poggio, 2000). Tensions are often solved pragmatically with compromises and organizational creativity in the practices of everyday life, thanks to the resources social actors can rely on (economic, but also social, as family support). The separation between living spaces and spaces for the production is another structural element to consider with respect to ease of pragmatic arrangements. This work aim is to understand how gender and class intersect to define some typical or socially viable path for women-heirs in search of recognition, considering entitlements (Mayor, 1993) and capabilities (Nussbaum, 2000) recognized on the basis of gender stereotypes and observed in family discourse. We adopt a diachronic perspective, both in the choice of the object of study (the intergenerational handover), and considering gender as embodied habitus, in line with the historical sociology of Bourdieu (Bennett, 2005). The concept of "symbolic violence" (Bourdieu, 1998) is thus a very important analytical tool to understand the processes of reproduction of the âorder of thingsâ (Bourdieu, 1979). This approach, in our opinion, makes it possible to hold together different aspects, often separated in gender research on entrepreneurship. They refer to material processes, symbolic and ideological foundations of the family as a "body" with its reproductive tendency, and the family seen as "field", with its conflicts and positions (Bourdieu, 1995). The 'public family' of the firm is kept together by property and inheritance (the vertical family, represented by those working in the business). In this way we can observe how the incorporation of gender and, at the same time, professional habitus is arranged in everyday practices in masculine dominated social institutions. The family we speak of, considering the often long times of cohabitation in the business, it is an intersection between different households. To read family and economic life as interrelated fields can enrich the use of the concept of social capital reading the reproduction of gender inequalities. We can observe how the institution of gender structures the possibilities to acquire social goods and recognition in a circular process where positions and competences, or capabilities, go hand by hand (Sennett, 2006). We try to go beyond an abstract idea of equal opportunities. Focusing on the reproduction of the two fields considered (business and family) held together by property and inheritance, transgressions and boundaries of empowered gender identities is observed by situating them in the intertwining of family discourse and the strategies of the social actors involved