Monica Ramirez: Champion of Farmworker Women

a champion for gender equality and farm worker rights. Starting when she was only fourteen years old, Monica has led a life of groundbreaking activism. She's helped found many of the organizations that advocate for farm worker women, migrant workers, and Latina's. I'm Kim Azzarelli and this is Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear. We'll bring you one hundred of the world's most inspiring and history making women you need

to hear now. As a young teen in rural Ohio, Monica noticed that farm workers like her family were being sidelined despite being crucial community members. That moment of realization was a spark that would light a career of advocacy. Monica has been involved in creating organizations such as Justice from Migrant Women, Latin X House, she said, and the

National farm Workers Alliance. Monica is also credited with helping ignite the Times Up movement that happened back in when she wrote a letter which was published in Time saying that farm worker women supported the women in Hollywood who were speaking up about sexual harassment. Listen and learn why Monica Ramirez is one of Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear. Thanks so much for joining us, Thanks for having me.

So you are one of the country's leading experts on migrant women and farm worker women and the issues they face. Can you tell us a little bit about the organization you run? Sure? So. My organization is called Justice for Migrant Women UM. The organization is focused on ensuring that migrant women workers, including farm workers UM, have the same civil and human rights as all other people in our country, and we focus a lot of our work on UM

policy advocacy. I'm building power with migrant women workers as well as ensuring that the stories that are told about women who are working in agriculture and as migrant women workers are accurate. So a good deal of our work relates to the narrative shift. So in some sense, you're giving a voice to some who are voiceless and trying to raise those voices. Can you tell us about your own personal history and how you got into this work and how you found your own voice. I'm the daughter

and granddaughter of migrant farm workers. I live in the same community where my family settled out of the migrant stream. So both my mom's side of the family and my dad's side of the family used to travel on the United States picking crops and um as a result of that work, my myself and my siblings were raised by my parents to know our history, to understand some of the struggles of the farm worker community which existed then when our family worked in the fields and unfortunately still

exist today. And UM it was really to an understanding of my family's background that I was able to find my voice because I was really young. I was fourteen years old when um an area newspaper, had this full pull out section of the paper that had this headline that said welcome back fisherman. And I was really confused by it because I didn't see a section that staid of welcome back farm workers. And in my community, farm workers and fishermen come back to my area in June.

They come back around the same time. So I asked my dad why there wasn't a welcome back farm worker section in the newspaper, and he said he didn't know, and that I should ask about it. And so, you know, I live in a very small place, and the newspaper was literally down the street room of my house. So I hopped on my bike and I rode my bike to the newspaper and I asked the editor, who happened to be the father to some kids I knew from school, and he didn't have a good answer, but he told

me that I could write about it. So at the age of fourteen, that's when I got my newspaper beat and I was writing about the farm worker community and then eventually writing about the Latino community UM in this area. And that really helped me to sort of understand, I think, the importance of telling our stories and also the consequences of not telling our stories and therefore making certain communities invisible UM. And that was a really powerful early lesson UM.

And I don't know that I would have asked that question about why there wasn't a welcome back farm worker section of the newspaper had it not been for my parents, who really instilled great pride in us related to our family's background working in the fields. And so this is kind of an amazing moment here that we're in as a country, and we know that migrant women are facing incredible difficulties right now during COVID, but this has gone on for a while. Can you tell us a little

bit about the pay gap for migrant women? Sure? Well, the pay gap for women at large, you know, is something that we are all confronting. But for Latinas we are paid, our pay gap is actually the widest that we have documented. I say that because we don't have the numbers to reflect accurately what undocumented women are paid or what other groups of women are paid. So but understanding the data that we do have, farm workers who

are primarily Latina fall into this category. And so for US um Latinas are being paid fifty five cents to the one dollar that is paid to white non Hispanic men for farm workers. That means that on average, a farm worker mail is paid between twenty four thousand dollars a year and a farm worker woman is being paid eleven thousand dollars a year. For Latin Us overall, no matter our education level, no matter the industry that we're working in or the sector that we're working in, we

are across the board being underpaid. And for us, it will take more than a hundred years for us to pay to close the pay gap, according to a new study that was done by the Institute for Women's Research Policy. And the other thing that this means is that when you're not paid equally, that means we have less money to pay our bills, to buy food, to pay for rent, to say, for our children's future, and so we are

always behind. And unfortunately, when you make eleven thousand dollars a year, like farm worker women do, um and you're hit with a crisis like the COVID pandemic that we're

all living through, there's literally no safety net. So over the past seven months, as this crisis has continued to unfold, we've been in communication with farm worker women across the country who are talking to us about how their families are going to work every day to feed our nation and at the end of the day they themsel elves don't have food to eat, and how they're facing eviction

and some have become homeless. So it's a it's already a critical situation for farm workers under normal circumstances, given the poverty, wages, and dangerous working conditions. But when you add something like this pandemic on top of it, it makes the situation even more difficult for the community. And what are some of the solutions that you're trying to drive to remedy this. I mean, obviously it's a huge issue and it's not a new issue, but what can

be done well in the case of farm workers. You know, most people don't realize that the farm worker community was not included in some of the basic employment laws in our country um over eighty years ago. So the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is the employment law that protects most workers in our country, specifically excluded farm workers. So there are many rights that farm workers still today don't have, and we need to remedy that situation because farm workers,

like all workers, should be guaranteed the basic rights. In this moment of COVID, we need to make sure that as members of Congress are passing bills that provide aid to people during the crisis, that they are including immigrant workers.

You know, the overwhelming majority of farm workers in our nation are immigrants, and many of them are undocumented, and over the last few months, as different bills have been passed, these immigrant workers have not been provided the same benefits, and so we need to make sure the political leaders understand that you can't call a group of workers essential workers but treat them like they're disposable, which is the case for the farm worker community and many other immigrant workers.

With respect to closing the pay gap, we need political leaders to pass laws like the Paycheck Fairness Act. We need the Care Act to pass, which would um for once and for all, hopefully put an end to children as young as the age of twelve working without restriction and agriculture. I know that shocking that we have kids who are working without restriction as of the age of twelve and fields across our country, but that is the

law and we need that to change. And we also need to make sure that Congress takes action on the be Heard Act in the workplace, because farm worker women and many women workers across our country are not only dealing with hey discrimination, but they're also at the same time dealing with sexual harassment. So all of those are really important steps in order for us to improve circumstances for farm worker women and for many women workers across our nation. Senecas one hundred Women to Hear will be

back after this short break. You mentioned sexual harassment, and you're also credited with having to help launch the Times Up movement with a letter you wrote that was published in Time magazine in can you tell us about that letter?

The letter is known as the Dear Sister's Letter. And you know, because I come from the farm worker community and the farmacer movement, we know that sexual harassment is a widespread problem for farm workers, for farmacre women specifically UM And in fact, the little data that we have indicates that, you know, as many as nine of women who were interviewed in one study said that sexual harassment

was a major problem for them. And in another study that was done in of farmacrew women said the sexual harassment is a major problem for them. So we're talking about a huge issue that our community has been confronting for many years. And you know, as an organizer in

my community, we've been trying to combat that problem. And because of the work that we've been doing over the years, we understood the risks that individuals take when they decided to speak out against sexual harassment and other workplace issues.

And so when the women and that the entertainment industry started to share their experiences related to treatment mistreatment against them in sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein, we took notice of what was happening, both what was being said as well as some of the public reaction, and we were really worried that the women were going to experience retaliation

and backlash and the ultimately they would be silenced. So we wrote this statement which was eventually published in Time magazine, and our letter essentially said to the women in entertainment that we stand with them, that we believe them, and that we understood that what was happening to them was not their fault, and we really wanted them to feel encouraged and to understand that we were with them in solidarity.

So I wrote that letter on behalf of Alianza Nasonade Campasina is one of the organizations that I co founded, which is the National farm Worker Women's Alliance, And the letter came on behalf of the seven thousand farmworker women in our country. And that letter, it's been credited with sparking Time's up. And you know, I always say it's important to recognize that women in entertainment. They were already organizing themselves, they were already figuring out the next steps.

And I think that our letter just helped make it clear that there were many women workers who were experiencing this problem, and something needed to be done for all industries where this problem was occurring. And so we're just really fortunate that we've been able to be part of that work and and and part of that movement and and certainly I'm part of the building to create change so that people don't have to endure that violence anymore.

And since then, you've created a few more organizations, are co founded a few more organizations, recently latinox House with America Frera and Eva Longoria. Can you tell us a little bit about that on the Latino X House. Um was co founded um By actually was co founded by olga Ura and Alex Martinez Condracci, who are who I

met through Times Up. There founders of times up along with Eva and America and and times Up helped us when we did our launch and we did an event with Eva in America and some other latinas to celebrate what we were building, but also to further the goals

of Time us Up. So UM. The latin X House is an organization that is focused on bringing together content creators, folks and entertainment, grassroots organizers, UM, you know, political leaders and other people who care about the latin X community because one of the things that has happened in this country is that our story as a collective has not been accurately told. And unfortunately, many of the media outlets and entertainment they image that they've portrayed of Latinos in

our country has been negative. You know, We've been portrayed as gang members and as criminals and UM as people who take and don't give. And so the Latino X House is really focused on ensuring that we are that we are telling our own stories, that the that the

narrative about our community is accurate and authentic. And we believe that the best way that we can do that is by bringing together these different UM individuals from these different walks of life so that we can hear each other's stories and then UM, you know, share those in community. So that's that entity. And then the other entity UM that I recently co founded with America Fair and Evil Longoria and seven other Latina leaders is called She Sitwether

and that organization is focused on. It's a lifestyle platform focused on empowering Latinas. You know, Latinas are a growing segment of our population. We have a lot of power.

We are that we organize our families, we organize our communities, and we organize our workplaces, and we want to make sure that Latinas across our country have the tools and information that they need to be able to build power and to be able to help, you know, change change laws and change circumstances confronting Latinas so that you know, we no longer have to face this pay gap and some of the other things that Latina's confront So it's

that's been an exciting initiative to put together. Both of them have been but you know, over the last month or so since we launched Sitwether, it's been really wonderful to see how energize the community is around that particular project. Well, that's amazing, um, and that is something to be optimistic about, which kind of leads me to my last question, which is, you know, obviously this is a very difficult period for

all of us and certainly for migrant women. Is there anything right now that makes you optimistic about the future of migrant women and farm worker women in particular. You know, the thing that makes me optimistic is that even though the past seven months have been so difficult with this

COVID crisis, farmworkers women have continued to organize. You know, we've seen farmaker women who are creating funds and food drives and really being in touch with one another about what they need and and trying to work together to ensure that people have the food and the other resources

that are most needed in this moment. That gives me a lot of hope because even though these have been difficult times, we haven't lost both our ability to connect with our community and our ability to ensure that we're doing all that is in our power to make sure that we have what we need. Um And you know, I've always said us and I believe it's true. In our community, we've never been waiting for someone to save us.

We've been working and organizing hard to save ourselves and we will continue to do that, and we've shown that during the course of this pandemic. Amazing. Well, you know, so appreciate you being on the show, and hopefully those who are listening can support your organization. Justice for Migrant Women because it's an amazing organization that's doing incredible work right now. So thank you so much for joining us. Thank you what an incredible conversation and what an inspiring life.

Here are three things that I took away from my talk with Monica. First, when you want to make a difference in the world, to start with your own corner. The daughter and granddaughter of farm workers, Monica was just young girl when she realized that families like hers were being marginalized, so at fourteen, she became a voice for her community. Second, it's important to acknowledge the real cost

of goods and services we consume every day. Many of the fu some vegetables we eat are picked by farm worker women, who face the widest pay gap in the US. How to help get behind organizations like the National farm Workers Women's Alliance and Justice for Migrant Women. Finally, know that we're all connected. In Monica Rameris had helped ignite the Times Up movement when she wrote a letter saying that farm worker women were supporting the women in Hollywood

who were speaking out. That might seem to be an unlikely pairing, but when women connect, the results are powerful and tune in on Thursday to learn about our next featured woman and discover why she's one of Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear. Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear is a collaboration between the Seneca Women Podcast Network and

I Heart Radio, with support from founding partner PNG. If you like what you heard on the show, rate and review it on Apple Podcasts, we hope you'll join us for our next episode of one hundred Women to Hear, where we can all listen, learn and get inspired. Have a great day, h