The growing importance of micro and small enterprises in growth, poverty reduction and livelihood strategies in developing economies where paid job opportunities are limited cannot be understated. One interesting development is that women are increasingly venturing into ownership of micro and small enterprises either on their own or in partnership with male entrepreneurs. This study assesses the performance of enterprises owned by females relative to those owned by males using national survey data in Malawi. The results show that the relationship between gender and business performance is complex. While there are no significant differences in profit margins, female-owned enterprises tend to grow rapidly in terms of employment than male-owned enterprises but femaleowned enterprises are likely to reveal decreases or no change in the growth of sales than male-owned enterprises. Gender based results also show that while there are common factors that affect the performance of female-owned and male-owned enterprises, there are also differential effects particularly in the revealed growth in sales in which education is a critical factor for the success of female-owned enterprises.