KSBW-TV (Monterey, California)

April 7, 2008

Harassment Issue To 90 Percent Of Surveyed Farmworker Women

SALINAS, Calif. -- A news conference Monday at La Plaza Bakery in Salinas kicked off a month-long nationwide campaign aimed at raising awareness of sexual harassment in the fields.

Project Bandana is trying to get out the message that women in the fields should not have to cover their faces in order to feel protected.

"If you look at the way they go to work, a lot of women cover their behinds," said Marcela Zamora, California Rural Legal Assistance. "They use a sweater specifically for that."

The problem of sexual harassment and violence in the fields is something the California Rural Legal Assistance workers said goes unreported most of the time.

"Just because we don't hear about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist or has gotten better," Zamora said.

A survey of California farmworker women revealed that 90 percent of women felt that sexual harassment is a major problem.

"Language and cultural barriers, and certainly immigration status are important factors," said Michael Marsh, California Rural Legal Assistance. "Even if they know their rights, they don't exercise them for fear of being deported."

However, when harassment has been reported, workers said they have received justice.

"One farmworker woman was awarded $1.8 million in a case a few years ago on the Central Coast," Marsh said.

But more often Marsh said, settlements are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars based on the minimum wage earned by most farmworkers.

Project Bandana hopes this campaign raises opposition to harassment in the fields.

Several women were supposed to be on hand at the news conference Monday, but organizers said they were called to the fields and cannot turn down work in order to feed their families.

The display of bandanas at La Plaza Bakery will be moved to Greenfield, Soledad and two other sites in Salinas later this month.