‘Farm norms harm women’

Dangerous pesticides, sexism and poor pay are some of the cultural and systemic barriers that keep women farmworkers from attaining reproductive rights, according to a panel discussion Wednesday night.

"Farmworkers are victims of exploitation, isolation and oppression," said Lariza Garzon, the youth and young adult coordinator for the National Farm Worker Ministry. "With low wages, almost no labor protections and discrimination from the rest of society, farmworkers are one of the most disenfranchised groups in our country. In farmworker communities, women and children suffer the most, and women's reproductive rights are often jeopardized."

UCF student Dominique Aulisio, of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), organized the panel in the Cape Florida Ballroom as part of National Farmworker Awareness Week. She said people stereotype and assume that all farmworkers are men. She wanted to raise awareness about women farmworkers.

"Pesticide regulation is geared toward men," Aulisio said. "It usually doesn't take women into account."

Farmworkers' babies have been born with deformities because of their mothers' exposure to pesticides, said panelist Jeannie Economos, a coordinator for the Farmworker Association of Florida.

"What kind of rights does a woman who's working in the field, being exposed to pesticides and whose health of herself and her fetus are being affected by chemicals, have?" Economos said. "That is a serious case of women's reproductive rights because they have no control over protecting their own health and the health of their babies."

Economos' job is to educate farmworkers about safety from pesticide exposure.

"The reality is that there is a lack of information, a lack of training and people are afraid to speak out when there are violations in the workplace," Economos said.

Former farmworker Griselda Payne explained how masculine pride and promiscuity in farmworker communities contributes to the poor treatment of women. She said the women often do not take charge of their sexual health, even when they are educated about potential dangers.

"Men have maybe two or three or four women," Payne said. "Women are scared to tell the men, ‘I need to be using protection.' Sometimes women know what's going on, but they don't dare say to the husband or the partner that they want to use a condom."

Now Payne works to reach and provide support to pregnant and post-partum low-income, minority women in Orange County. 

Women and their children are also victims of the Columbia's $15 billion flower industry, said Carolina Delgado of South Florida Jobs with Justice. She said women can work anywhere from 60 to 90 hours per month for about $180 total. And because they don't make enough money to hire child care, most of the women leave their babies and toddlers locked alone inside their homes.

Delgado said that flower nurseries require women to take pregnancy tests before hiring them. If a woman tests positive, she will not be hired, Delgado said. If a woman is hired and later becomes pregnant, she will likely be fired. Women who are not fired are specifically placed inside greenhouses, which are fumigated while the women are still inside. She said this is done to force miscarriages.

But Delgado urged the audience to not boycott flowers. She explained that the flowerworkers are proud of their work and want to keep their jobs. Instead, a fair trade label is being created to help correct the problems that flowerworkers face.

UCF public administration professor Jay Jurie said many consumers are disconnected from the farmworkers' struggles.

"It occurred to me that we should find a commonality between the struggles of different people and that includes ourselves," Jurie said. "Middle-class homeowners don't see themselves in any way united with the people manufacturing chemicals or being exposed to chemicals. But they're also exposed [to pesticides], and they're also at risk, so they're linked in that way."

Junior Francisco Garcia said he became interested in farmworkers after taking a women's studies course at UCF. He said oppression is clearly present in the farm industry.

"The panel was really informative," Garcia said. "It really spoke to me, especially the video. It put a face to the injustices."