De l’atelier à la cuisine chez les céramistes : arrangements de couple et inégalités de genre dans un métier indépendant « égalitariste »

In self-employed activities, the division of domestic and professional tasks between partners is usually studied in occupations with a certain degree of conservatism, or in which women’s careers are actually an adaptation to their couple’s project. This article reflects on gender relations within the occupational group of art ceramicists, which offers quite a different situation : not only is it strongly feminized, but it is also organized according to principles intended to be egalitarian. Besides, its members are endowed with cultivated dispositions, claim a left-wing political culture, and choose ceramics out of a desire of self-fulfillment. How, then, can we explain the limited effects of feminist achievements in the lifestyles and work of these self-employed workers ? After drawing the demographic contours of this occupation and its culture, the article outlines the inequalities that exist within households, where either one or both spouses practise(s) ceramics. We then show how material and symbolic dimensions generate diverse forms of invisibility of women’s work, both within the domestic unit and the professional sphere. Finally, we provide some explanations regarding the persistence of these gender inequalities, which seem paradoxical in an occupation that is seen as an alternative to other forms of domination. JEL : J16, J23