Resumo: The purpose of this paper is to analyse therelationship between business success and genderin the fi eld of rural tourism in Galicia (Spain),employing fi nancial (or economic) and non-fi nancialelements as factors for success. The small size of thefi eld for research allows control of structural factors(industry, location and company size), employed bythe existing literature to explain the relationshipbetween business success and gender. The paperprovides new knowledge about this relationshipin a rural environment, with specifi c industrycharacteristics related to diversifi cation, small sizeand owner motivation. The fi ndings suggest theexistence of a signifi cant relationship betweengender and success, measuring success with bothsubjective measures (related to profi t orientation)and objective measures, related to employment.The perception of success appears to be higher forwomen, with signifi cant gender differences.
