I was scrolling through LinkedIn again recently and stumbled across job titles like Employer Branding Manager.
The word branding goes back to the Middle Ages. Back then, livestock was seared with a hot iron to leave a mark. Cattle were branded as property—mostly belonging to male owners. Historically, that's part of how patriarchy took root.
Language shapes our thinking at a deep level. Buzzwords like employer branding cement the neoliberal narrative of market dominance. They treat human beings like commodities or products to be neatly packaged for the market.
We need to ditch this mindset once and for all. We aren't livestock, and we aren't the property of any employer. We don't need employers or market coercion anymore—we need the Economy for the Common Good.
