A study of supermarket owners (Javefors Grauers 1999) showed that the woman and the man in the family business were unequal in terms of e.g. ownership, salaries, and domestic work. Furthermore, that the woman in the business couple was not visible as a supermarket owner. The results were interpreted as an outcome of the gender system (Hirdman 1990). The dissertation deals with the question whether the outcome of the gender system is modified towards equal terms if the business couple runs a family business within a profession that requires a higher education.

In order to illuminate if professional membership modifies the outcome of the gender system, a study of professional business couples where both spouses are lawyers was conducted. The results of the study were compared with the results from the study of supermarket owners. The comparison shows that the professional membership amongst business couples to a certain degree contributes in modifying the outcome of the gender system. Despite there was a traditional gender pattern of differentiation among the lawyers e.g. in domestic work sharing, the findings taking together and especially the visibility of the female lawyers point towards that family business in terms of business couple in a profession actually works towards equality between the spouses. The female lawyers were visible as business women but the female supermarket owners were not. The visibility of the female lawyer is explained by the legitimacy she receives through her professional knowledge and acknowledged profession. When a legal advisor has applied for and been admitted to the Law Society she becomes visible as a lawyer to those who have an interest in her professional competence. Professional membership amongst business couples seems to modify the outcome of the gender system and thereby to make family business a vehicle of equality.