Third person singular present of hire; employs someone for wages or temporarily engages services. Can also refer to multiple people who have been employed.
From Old English 'hyrian' meaning 'to engage for wages,' related to 'hyr' (wages, payment). The concept evolved from temporary service arrangements to modern employment relationships.
The word 'hire' originally implied temporary work - you hired someone for a specific task or period. This temporary nature persists in phrases like 'hire a car' or 'for hire,' even though modern employment often assumes permanence.
Hiring has been a site of gender discrimination; women faced systemic barriers to equal pay, benefits, and advancement until legal interventions (1960s onward in US), and hiring bias persists in recruitment algorithms and interviewer decisions.
Use 'hires' as-is, but when discussing recruitment, audit for bias: structured interviews, blind resume review, and diverse hiring panels reduce gendered and racialized discrimination.
Women's economic participation depends on equitable hiring; acknowledging historical exclusion from workforces and professions reveals how policy and practice shape opportunity.
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