Introduction: The Roles of women in family businesses and the challenges and opportuni- ties they face in relations to these roles in the family businesses will be explored in this re- search. Although women are accepted very important players, yet the roles of women are not frequently well-defined. The thesis will explore roles of women who play an important role in family firms and challenges and opportunities they have within the Family Business- es in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore what roles women in family business in Bangladesh and Pakistan have, and challenges and the opportunities they face in relation to these roles.

Method: A qualitative approach was used to accomplish the purpose of this thesis. E-mail interview questionnaires from the participants were filled to gather information regarding the roles they play in the family business and the challenges and opportunities they have in the family business.

Conclusion: Gender and the succession issue have a central role to play in the women par- ticipation in the family business. These factors along with invisibility issue are viewed as main challenges faced by women in the family businesses. Some of the results lead us to conclude that women situation in both countries is not so bad rather they have good posi- tions in the family businesses. So it was not in conformity with the literature written on women invisibility.