The study focuses on motivations for going into business which proved to be significantly differentiated according to gender. Women cited as one of the main motivation for going into business the possibilities for combining work and family responsibilities. Conversely, businessmen make a clear separation between their professional and family lives, and for them business is almost exclusively a mean for their own professional development. The study revealed that the structure of company management, from the perspective of gender and from the perspective of the particular line of business, has a fundamental influence on the distribution of work and responsibilities between partners and on the strategies whereby this distribution is reasoned and arranged. Author considers that the way of managing the company is dependent on sex of people associated in business, on their relationship (marriage) and line of business they work in.