LEISURE PROFESSIONALS AND THEIR LEISURE PRACTICES:

GENDER PARADOXES AND TENSIONS IN MUSEUM MANAGEMENT

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the leisure experiences (and their absences) of women museum managers in Belo Horizonte, problematizing the paradoxes and tensions faced by professionals who work in the field of leisure but find it difficult to enjoy their own free time. In this qualitative research, we conducted interviews with seven managers from different museums in the city, using content analysis. The results demonstrate that, although they work in spaces intended for other people's leisure, these professionals find it difficult to enjoy their ow n free time. The leisure of these managers appears less as a pleasurable experience and more as a functional necessity of instrumentalized self care, mainly through physical activity practices. Extended working hours, the use of digital technologies that p revent disconnection between work and personal life, combined with the double burden of domestic and family work, constitute structural barriers to the enjoyment of leisure. The interviewees report feelings of guilt when allowing themselves moments of rest and a constant sense of insufficiency in the face of multiple demands. The study shows how gender inequalities structure not only the professional market, but also the possibilities of access to leisure as a social right.