In the documentary, Rape in the Fields, the theme of abuse of power for the purpose of carrying out the illegal and immoral acts of sexual violence and sexual harassment are explored. Throughout the documentary various undocumented women who work in the agricultural production industry are interviewed and have given insight into the deplorable working conditions they have had to persevere and various instances of rape and sexual assault that have occurred in their workplaces. Many of these women’s supervisors have use their power over them to rape them because these women have no legal status or documentation. In many instances, the testimony included threats that these supervisors had used like that of firing the low-income women or that of
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Other testimony claimed that the fields were nicknamed the “green motel” because women would have to perform sexual intercourse with their supervisor in order to obtain
2 employment. It is horrible that these women had to and continue to suffer through these injustices.
Because of the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment in the fields, the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission got involved. Bill Tamayo who heads the commission was assigned to undertake investigations because one of the largest issues identified in the agricultural business was the increasing number of women who were and are being raped in the fields. In 2002, Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission or EOC undertook it’s first court case. The court case was the EOC vs. Harris Farms in which a woman was raped at gunpoint three times on separate occasion and was then threatened by her supervisor with loss of job and deportation.
The victim of this case was Olivia Tamayo who was ordered to get into her supervisor’s truck and the taken to the almond section of the farm they were employed by where she was sexually assaulted. Tamayo recalls that she tried to defend herself against the perpetrator, Rene Rodriguez. Throughout the …show more content…
Most of the times the companies settle or end up paying settlements to the victims but the perpetrators of the actual crime don’t receive any jail sentences. I feel that this is very unjust and still doesn’t help these women. These men go on to another job or retire and receive no punishment for the horrendous crimes they have committed against these women. If anything, these criminals probably go on to rape more defenseless women in other fields since they know they are safe from coming under the scrutiny of the law.
At the end, Harris Farm had to pay a settlement to the victim and Rodriguez
Was allowed to retire in South Texas. He didn’t get arrested and insists that he’s innocent because if the accusations were true then he’d be in prison. I thought it was interesting that the lawyers knew that Rodriguez was lying because he couldn’t identify Tamayo’s body. This proved that he was lying about
Other testimony claimed that the fields were nicknamed the “green motel” because women would have to perform sexual intercourse with their supervisor in order to obtain
2 employment. It is horrible that these women had to and continue to suffer through these injustices.
Because of the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment in the fields, the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission got involved. Bill Tamayo who heads the commission was assigned to undertake investigations because one of the largest issues identified in the agricultural business was the increasing number of women who were and are being raped in the fields. In 2002, Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission or EOC undertook it’s first court case. The court case was the EOC vs. Harris Farms in which a woman was raped at gunpoint three times on separate occasion and was then threatened by her supervisor with loss of job and deportation.
The victim of this case was Olivia Tamayo who was ordered to get into her supervisor’s truck and the taken to the almond section of the farm they were employed by where she was sexually assaulted. Tamayo recalls that she tried to defend herself against the perpetrator, Rene Rodriguez. Throughout the …show more content…
Most of the times the companies settle or end up paying settlements to the victims but the perpetrators of the actual crime don’t receive any jail sentences. I feel that this is very unjust and still doesn’t help these women. These men go on to another job or retire and receive no punishment for the horrendous crimes they have committed against these women. If anything, these criminals probably go on to rape more defenseless women in other fields since they know they are safe from coming under the scrutiny of the law.
At the end, Harris Farm had to pay a settlement to the victim and Rodriguez
Was allowed to retire in South Texas. He didn’t get arrested and insists that he’s innocent because if the accusations were true then he’d be in prison. I thought it was interesting that the lawyers knew that Rodriguez was lying because he couldn’t identify Tamayo’s body. This proved that he was lying about