`Are You Going Home Already?'

Drawing on Weberian theory of social closure, this article explores how the long hours culture fostered in so many British organizations may act as a means of social closure to exclude women managers from senior positions. The research, conducted in eight different divisions of two UK companies, an airline and a merchant bank, shows that access to the resource of time is vital to be a successful manager. Women are less likely to have equal access to time because of the gendered division of domestic labour, and indeed men's time is often made available to them by their partners at home. At a time when women can offer almost everything that men can in terms of ability, skills and experience, time becomes the differentiating feature which makes men more likely to achieve promotion. The research shows the convergence of patriarchal and organizational desires/interests.