Event focuses on sexual abuse of female migrant workers

BY MARY KLAUS Of The Patriot-News

An Adams County farm worker who was sexually assaulted by both her husband and another fruit picker felt "very frightened" when she went to Survivors Inc. of Adams County for help, a worker there said.

"Sometimes, her husband assaulted her," Shirl Peters, coordinator of the Survivors Inc. shelter in the Gettysburg area, said Tuesday during a National Sexual Violence Resource Center reception in Enola. "Other times, another farm worker who drove her to work would drive off the road and assault her. She and her children came to us for help."

Eighteen months later, the woman had gained some self esteem, was learning to speak English, trained for a new job, had an apartment and earned a General Educational Development certificate, Peters said. "We showed her that there are options available. But sometimes a woman is abused eight or nine times before she comes for help."

About 50 women attended the reception at the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape offices to learn about sexually harassed female farm workers. The women also made decorated bandanas to participate in the Southern Poverty Law Center's "Bandana Project," which uses the bandana as a symbol of solidarity.

Speakers said women farm workers face chronic sexual harassment on the job and use bandanas to cover their faces and bodies in an attempt to ward off unwanted sexual attention that often leads to rape.

These victims need people to listen to them, translate for them and get them help, said Commissioner Stuart J. Ishimaru of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Pennsylvania has about 44,000 migrant and seasonal farm workers, according to the National Center for Farmworker Health. Remigia Sandoval, spokeswoman for Survivors Inc. of Adams County, said her organization helps women farm workers victimized by sexual harassment and abuse.

"Women in Adams County pick fruit from strawberries in June to apples in October," she said. "Sometimes, the harassment is subtle. Other times, it's from fellow farm workers who offer the women rides or loan them money, then expect sexual favors. Many women are too frightened to come for help."

Delilah Rumburg, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape executive director, called harassment of farm workers a hidden problem that has received little public attention.

"The fear of further abuse and threat of violence has kept farm worker women silent," she said. "The problem has been surrounded by a cloak of silence. Today, we want to give those victims a voice. We're also raising awareness about the problem."

Monica Ramirez, project director for "Esperanza: The Immigrant Women's Legal Initiative," said victims often stay silent because they fear further violence, harm to their families and deportation. She said 90 percent of female farm workers surveyed call sexual harassment on the job a problem.

"Nobody should be forced to compromise their dignity to feed their families," Ramirez said.