by John Barden

Created on: January 18, 2009

If the United States, or any other country on this earth, were a Utopia, then this question would not require consideration. People - all people - would be treated fairly and ethically regardless of their sex, their race, their nationality, age, religion or sexual persuasion. Unions and government regulators would not exist. Health care would be provided for all, whatever one's full or part-time status. There would be no obscene and unconscionable chasm between the 'highly' compensated and the 'barely' compensated worker. And equal pay for equal job responsibilities would be standard operating procedure.

Not in this world, folks.

The fact is that all Corporations everywhere are profit hungry machines that view individuals as easily renewable resources. They fatten them with false promises and expectations, then grind them up and chew on them a while till they've lost their flavor, then spit them out. Both men and women, of all stripes, are of value only if they're useful.

The sad thing is that workers the world over, locked in a Darwinian struggle for survival, are easily recruited by these unholy behemoths and willingly submit themselves to a lifetime of indentured servitude in exchange for a meager wage. When one is starving, he or she will work for food.

Prior to WW II, corporations primarily fed on family men, and men desiring to raise a family. These men had responsibilities and were not mobile or full of options. The labor pool was limited since society viewed women as second-class citizens, at best, and certainly not useful in the workplace. A kind of social contract arose: if a man slaved away his entire life for a particular company, he would be provided for in old age by way of a pension. Then came the war with its urgent need to manufacture tons of stuff that could kill or make killing easier. Since the men were sent off as expendable human weapons, and not enough remained behind to power the war machine, Rosie the Riveter was let out of her kitchen - never to return again.

In post-war years, unequal pay between the sexes became 'justified' by the male argument that the husband had to provide for his family and required a higher wage than a woman who, presumably, was still living at home and did not. Furthermore, a woman, just when she was becoming a well-trained and experienced employee would most likely 'get herself' pregnant and quit to raise a family. Why not hold back from the females and give it to the men? It cost the corporation nothing. This

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