Many undocumented female workers who work in farms face a very harsh and grim reality. That reality is that they wake up each morning and go to work fearing that they will be sexually harassed by their supervisors and worse…raped! And there is nothing they can do about it.
There have over the years been numerous reports of widespread sexual abuse of women farmworkers–everything from being called demeaning names by supervisors to brutal sexual assault. Many of the victims suffer in silence, cut off from law enforcement and social services and fearful of losing their jobs if they come forward to authorities, according to a report on sexual violence in agricultural work by Human Rights Watch.
The report, based on dozens of interviews with survivors and advocates, outlines the multiple barriers to justice that women face–not just institutional sexism but also crippling poverty and discrimination in law enforcement. Women may feel they have little choice but to suffer humiliating treatment and abuse in order to support their families. The consequences of reporting sexual violence can be devastating for the whole household, because the boss might fire both the victim and the family members who work alongside her.
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See the HRW report here:
http://www.hrw.org/...
Instead of protecting the victims in this case the undocumented female farm workers from sexual abuse our law enforcement tend to favor the sexual-harasser and rapist, hence, blockading many women from seeking help and protection from the law.
Although the law should theoretically protect all women from such abuse, immigrant workers are deterred from reporting work-related sexual violence because the law tends to criminalize them rather than treat them as survivors deserving of justice. As federal and state authorities have focused on arresting and deporting the undocumented, immigrant communities have every reason to see police as a source of terror, not protection.
Although special immigration relief known as the U-Visa is available to victims of crime, advocates are concerned that the qualifications for the visa are too stringent for people who are dealing with trauma and economic hardship. Access to counseling and other services is also severely constrained by language and culture barriers that make it hard for social agencies to build trust with underserved communities.
Papers and documents do not make human beings…human beings. Human beings have intrinsic rights and worth that should be protected regardless of their immigration status. Both the documented and the undocumented female feel pain and humiliation from rape and sexual harassment. This feeling is universal regardless of location or immigration status.
Rape is a shame to be borne by the perpetrator not the victim and it’s time our authorities to understand this philosophy in all situations.
Hear their plight and stories for yourself here: