As discussed in Part 1, the dominant model of time in contemporary capitalist societies is the linear, goal-oriented, commodified time of the clock: time that can be individually owned, bought, sold, invested, spent or wasted, and that can be measured as a series of discrete activities. In this model, time is money, profitability requires long hours and/or the intensification of work time and we are constantly looking to clearly identifiable outcomes. However, this hegemonic understanding coexists with other ways of relating to time; in particular, human relationships and caring interactions may have a very different temporal pattern and logic, while our bodies have rhythms that we can never entirely escape.

This chapter develops Chapter Two's discussion of the social nature of time to consider whether there is a specifically female ‘time culture’ and, if so, the place of such ‘women's time’ in patriarchal capitalist societies. The arguments of the book so far indicate that any distinction between women's and men's time should not be understood in dichotomous terms, both because our experience of time is inherently fragmented, fluid and multi-layered and because women and men are not closed, unitary categories. However, they do not rule out the possibility that general differences in physical and social experiences often give women and men a different relationship to time; they also indicate that, if so, then ‘men's time’ will be privileged, and women's claims to equality will require them to assimilate to male temporal norms. They further indicate that because the dominant time is also that of the capitalist market economy, any attempt to change the time culture cannot be isolated from wider economic and political issues.

There is now a significant body of feminist thought analysing the gendered nature of time. Although writers disagree as to the nature, source and significance of any differences between male and female time cultures, there are a number of recurrent themes. In contrast to the male time of paid production, many describe ‘women's time’ as cyclical, natural, task-oriented, relational and embedded, the time of reproduction, the family and personal relationships.