Surviving the Workday

Oh, I’m not even sure I can summarize this story without weeping. 

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an award of one million dollars to a farmworker, Olivia Tamayo, whose supervisor raped her repeatedly, including at work and in her own home, and the employer’s (Harris Farms) solution to the rapes was to move her to an isolated location for easier access:

Tamayo’s ordeal, unfortunately, is not an isolated incident. The sexual harassment of female farmworkers has long been a dirty secret of migrant labor. Studies are sparse, but one by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that 90% of female farmworkers in California surveyed in 1993 said sexual harassment was a serious problem. Vulnerable because of their poverty, their limited English skills and often their immigration status, these women are easy prey. Harassers sometimes threaten to report illegal immigrants or their relatives if victims do not remain silent, advocates say.

The article goes on to describe how women disguise themselves as men in the fields so as not to be victimized.

This entry was posted by Ms. Theologian on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 8:53 am and is filed under evidence of the decline of civilization You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.