摘要：This article explores contemporary Swedish artists’ experiences of work–family conflict from a gender perspective. Sweden is a critical case as the country is well-known for its official gender equality policy stressing the importance of possibilities for women and men to balance family and paid work. The analysis of survey data collected from 2,025 Swedish professional visual artists shows their self-reported levels of work–family conflict to be generally low. Women artists, however, were found to experience more conflict than men artists. The results suggest that women face more pressure from the demands of both work and home than men. While an OLS regression analysis showed a relationship between the artists’ parenting responsibility and their perceived level of work–family conflict overall, for men artists this was so only at the second child. An unequal division of housework had negative consequences for women artists’ work–family balance, while the effect of being single was in this regard more pronounced among men than among women. This suggests that men, to a greater extent than women, depend on a spouse to handle the balance between work and family. Although much has happened regarding the gender issues in the art world, patterns of dependence and traditional gender roles in work and caring thus continue to persist, limiting individuals’ choices and actual ability to work as an artist, especially for women.
