Inspired by the debate around Anne-Marie Slaughter's recent Atlantic article "Why Women Still Can't Have It All," ARTINFO reached out to women in the art world for their thoughts of balancing career and family, from successful gallerists to international artists. Specifically, we asked three questions:
1. Slaughter claims that society's competitive work conditions make it difficult, and arguably impossible, to "have it all," with regards to a healthy life balance of family and work. Does this kind of sentiment resonate with your experience?
2. Do you think there are specific issues facing women in the art world? Is it a field in which it is easier or more difficult for women to have families and high-profile careers?
3. If there were anything you would change about the field so that women could more easily balance the choice of having both a family and a career, what would it be?
In a previous article, we synthesized some of the themes that we found. However, given the interest inspired by the subject, the thoughfulness of the answers we gathered, and the wide variety in the responses, we also decided we wanted to publish some of the answers in full. Some are brief, while others are essay-length; some of the women we reached out to decided to respond to our questions directly, others to simply reflect on the question in their own personal way. Below, we link to the responses we received from a variety of figures, as a contribution to continuing what is obviously an important discussion:
—Cecilia Alemani (curator, The High Line)
—Antonia Carver (director, Art Dubai)
—Jane Cohan (director of press relations, James Cohan Gallery)
—Jennifer Dalton (artist)
—Lisa Dennison (chairman, Sotheby's North and South America)
—Natalie Frank (artist)
—RoseLee Goldberg (curator, founder of Performa)
—Candice Madey (owner, On Stellar Rays gallery)
—Marilyn Minter (artist)
—Lisa Phillips (director, New Museum)
—Bettina Prentice (owner, Prentice PR)
—Doreen Ramen (co-director, Art Production Fund)
—Mary Sabbatino (vice president, Gallery Lelong)
—Yvonne Force Villareal (co-director, Art Production Fund)