This book is motivated by the hope that political theory can improve our understanding of the societies in which we live and thereby contribute to policies aimed at reducing exploitation and enabling more people to realise their human potential. More specifically, it is grounded in feminist political theory and the belief that unequal power relationships between women and men are real, important and unjust. Focusing on Western welfare states, it rejects the widely articulated claim that feminism is now redundant, and it treats naming and contesting gender inequalities as a matter of political priority. It sees feminist politics as inseparable from other ‘progressive’ movements, as the needs of women cannot be addressed in isolation from other socio-economic inequalities, while attempts to address these will be incomplete if women are excluded.

The book also argues that the variable ways in which time is used, controlled and understood raise profound and increasingly urgent political issues. We need to address these if we are to understand politics in general and the nature of gender inequalities in particular; failure to do so will have negative consequences, not only for women but also for society as a whole.

The political importance of time

The politics of ‘who gets what, when and how’ involves access to disposable time as well as other scarce resources. Such time is both a primary good in itself and a key political resource that citizens need if they are to contribute to their communities and express their interests and views. This book argues that its current distribution is both unjust and a source of political inequality. It further argues that long hours in paid employment, particularly in the UK and US, are having damaging effects on individuals, their families and society, contributing to a ‘care deficit’ and a decline in economic effectiveness and civic engagement. Enabling citizens to find a healthier balance between paid employment and other aspects of life should therefore be a political priority.

This ‘politics of time’ is linked in complex ways with women's changing and variable domestic, economic and political situation. A moment's reflection shows that societies would collapse if women were to abandon their traditional and time-consuming domestic and caring responsibilities.