In Rape in the Fields, the issue of sexual assault and harassment in the farm industry among women is incredibly high and undocumented. Unfortunately, a large marjotity of women who work in these fields are illegal immigrants and often don’t speak much, if any, English. Along with the language barrier, most women are unsure of their rights and know that oftentimes they don’t have any. The documentary exemplified the both situations of “unwelcome” and “involuntary” sexual harassment. On more than one occasion women were told that if they did not perform sexual acts with their supervisors they would lose their jobs. On top of fear for their jobs, the fear of deportation was a major concern for most of these women. This is an example of …show more content…
This is powerlessness in its purest form, in which these women have no good option other than to do what is best for their families. In the rare occasion that an incident does get reported, the language barrier and lack of rights often favors the farm owner over the women. When it is his word against hers, he is usually taken more seriously. The farm workers are continuously exploited and taken advantage of, mainly because of the vulnerable situation they are in. Specifically, in the DeCoster case, women were held against their will in the building for days at a time. In being undocumented, it is difficult to try to get the police involved because of the illegal status of these people. On top of the cruel working conditions, women were split up into two groups, in which one group was taken back and raped by the owners. These women had their jobs threatened and could not speak up or fight back, for fear of losing their job or being deported. One woman spoke of how she finally did step up and report her assault, which was followed by her losing her job and being threatened. Women who work in the farms have very few resources available to them. The …show more content…
There are also certain law firms that will take on the case of undocumented workers being abused, however, they are few and far between. The women can almost certainly not confront the supervisor or any other owners without fear of being fired. Going to the officials is also a slippery slope, in that they risk being taken away and deported. Most women do not know or have access to the resources available to help them, however. With a language barrier and the isolation of working in the fields, most women do not know that help is an option. Even when they do, it is common for the people they accuse of these situations to be found innocent and not charged rightfully for their actions. When the documentary was made, no accusations are known to have rightfully accused the perpetrators and given them a serious sentence. Conditions for women working in the fields are incredibly harsh and have little protection. Although there are some people working to improve these women’s circumstances, the issue of sexual assault is still prevalent and heavily in the control of the assaulters. Few women actually find justice and many are forced to continue living the life of sexual abuse in order to keep their jobs and support their families without fear of
The trial of 19 year old Owen Laurie has brought into light the alarming rate in which Sexual assault is rising. The issue that rages on in Colleges is said to be making its way to high schools and primary school. In a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Division of Violence Prevention, 19% of Undergraduate women experienced
...ocuments and quotes about people’s feelings during this time and because of that they don’t often get considered. Even today it is hard for us to imagine these women being real people with families and busy lives. These women were working around the clock in other people’s houses. Many of them mentioned that they didn’t have set hours. People in the house would call for them during all hours of the day and they never had time for themselves. One women shared just this in her interview when she said, “I had a good room and everything nice, and she gave me a great many things, but I’d have spared them all if only I have had a little time to myself.” Life was extremely difficult for these women even though they weren 't doing strenuous labor. They were forced into the lives of other families with unpredictable hours while still trying to maintain a life of their own.
90 percent of the victims of sexual assault are women and 10 percent are men, and nearly 99 percent of offenders in single-victim assaults are men (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2010). According to https://www.justice.gov/ovw/sexual-assault, Sexual assault is any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape. () Sexual Assault can happen to anyone, not just women it can happen to men and kids as well. Sexual Assault these days are a big trouble and it is not being addressed in good order, and it is
Illegal immigrants in the United States usually come from less developed countries or at least poorly developed regions of these countries. These illegal immigrants carry a totally different knowledge of culture, legal system and human rights when they came into this country. The most these people are victimized is when they are working, sometimes, these people can't even realized when they have become victims. Because of their status, illegal immigrants, it is very rare that they can find good positions in considerably big companies to start with. Usually, small businesses will take the risk to hire illegal immigrants, sometimes it may be because of these small businesses are trying to help those illegal immigrants who share same nationality with them, but, for most of the time, these undocumented migrant workers are much cheaper and easier to manipulate.
Welsh et al. (2006) used data from the research focus groups of Canadian women to discuss the issue of sexual harassment among Canadian women and how the white Canadian women, who are mostly heterosexual, define sexual harassment and rape (objective) versus how the women of color define their experience of rape and sexual harassment in workplace (subjective). According to Welsh et al. (2006), he discussed how race, gender and citizenship are important factors in how Women of color with and without citizenship right define sexual harassment and rape. Sometimes as race and sometimes sees it as an experience they will pass through at some point or the other in their lives and most times they failed to report because of their legal statues, fear, pity, guilt, love, ignorance, lack of education. He also discussed how they fail to pay attention to the interlocking aspect of race and citizenship and how the legal system failed to give as much attention to the few reported case of rape by women of color because of their passed sexual history. While on the other hand, the white Canadian Woman defines her experience of rape and harassment not as a race but as what the author failed to discuss. The white Canadian woman knows when the boundary is crossed and most times do not contemplate to express her legal rights.
Many immigrants want to migrate to the United States to gain a better life for their families, for economic opportunity, and to escape political persecution. Many immigrants are working illegally and the government is not aware of how many of them are actually getting away with it, and others of course are being detained and isolated from their work force. Now so many illegal immigrants are being evicted easily from their work force or even from off the streets. In the book Disposable Domestics, Grace Chang explains that there had been sixty law enforcement agents from Virginia’s sheriff’s office who joined the federal agents. They were joined together by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to rummage around a construction site where workers were building a court jail. Later, agents had gathered one hundred employees together in an array against the wall, searching for undocumented employees. Soon after the whole fiasco, a deputy secretary of Virginia Health and Human Resources department was informed that fourteen people were detained and removed from their work force for not having documents. Grace Chang also discusses a case of a nominee for United States Attorney general. Zoë Baird admitted that she employed two undocumented Peruvian immigrants. We also learn that employers hire illegal immigrants for the benefit of saving money. If employers wanted legal workers they would be able to get them, but it would cost them more.
been forced to drive to a rural area before the assailant raped her twice ("A.B. Butler").She was
According to a statement addressing the sexual victimization of college women The Crime and Victimization in America states that, “ One out of four women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus.” This disturbing fact has not minimized throughout the years, instead it is continuing to worsen throughout college campuses. Sexual assault is not an act to be taken lightly. Society must stop pinpointing the individuals who commit these crimes one by one, but rather look at the problem as a whole and begin to understand the main cause of sexual assault and possible methods to reduce these acts of sexual coercion.
This again specifically states the rights of women and how there are specific laws that meant to provide and protect on several
women that they were not put down by the government, but in any event they
Be aware of any sexual harassment taking place in the workplace and immediately taking action.
In their lives too many women are abuse for such petty reasons and in all sorts of abuse, Sexual division of labor and gender expectations and a unheard and still disrespected voice.
KANE-URRABAZO, C. (2007). Sexual harassment in the workplace: it is your problem. Journal Of Nursing Management, 15(6), 608-613. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2007.00725.x
For instance some of the sign of the sexual harassment can be from small comments on women's breast, unwanted body contact, offensive graphic pictures being sent directly to any individual. Sexual harassment can happen in a form of belittling remarks regarding specific ge...
In today’s workplace, sexual harassment is a growing problem. The legal definition of sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance or conduct on the job that creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment. Another definition is the making of unwanted and offensive sexual advances or of sexually offensive remarks or acts, especially by one in a superior or supervisory position. Women and men of all ages, backgrounds, races and experience are harassed on the job. Sexual harassment encountered in workplaces is a hazard across the world that reduces the quality of working life, jeopardizes the well-being of women and men, undermines gender equality and imposes costs on firms and organizations.