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Examining the Sexual Harassment Experiences of Mexican Immigrant Farmworking Women

NCJ Number
229789
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2010 Pages: 237-261
Author(s)
Irma Morales Waugh
Date Published
March 2010
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This study provided a contextualized understanding of the experiences of sexual harassment among Mexican immigrant women employed on central California farms.
Abstract
This study examined sexual harassment experiences of Mexican immigrant farmworking women (n = 150) employed on California farms. Of the estimated 1 million California farmworkers, 78 percent are Latino, mostly from Mexico, and 28 percent are women. Unlike gender-segregated worksites of Mexico, women farmworkers in the United States labor alongside men, facilitating harassment from coworkers and supervisors. Simultaneous sexist, racist, and economic discrimination are comparable to converging lanes of automobile traffic (Crenshaw, 2000) that women, standing at the intersections, manage to avoid harm. Findings highlight how discrimination shapes women's experiences and demonstrate the need for institutional policies to protect them. References (Published Abstract)