About Us

MISSION STATEMENT

Our Mission is to eliminate sexual harassment of farmworkers by raising awareness through the media, educating the public and farmworkers, and through policy solutions.

OUR GOALS

1. Construct statewide media communications to draw attention to the problem of sexual harassment in agriculture.
2. Work with key stakeholders to educate the workers and employers of their rights and responsibilities using engaging and culturally-tailored methods.
3. Explore options and create public policy solutions that address sexual harassment in agriculture and protect farmworkers’ health and safety. 

 WHY WE EXIST

Farmworker Sexual Harassment as a Health Issue

The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (1). Workplace sexual harassment (WSH) in agriculture is a serious and widespread health inequity issue that impacts key essential workers, farmworkers (2).

Problem Statement

In Washington, agriculture is a $49 billion cornerstone of the economy with approximately 200,000 farmworkers at peak times of the year (3, 4). Women may represent as much as 1/3 of Washington’s farm workforce and it is estimated that 75-80% of women employed in the agricultural industry are victims of workplace sexual harassment (5, 6, 7).

Sexual harassment can have long-lasting and devastating physical and mental health effects. In addition to threats of bodily harm and physical impacts from perpetrators, there are long-lasting psychological and emotional health impacts. Symptoms to recognize are depression, grief, shame, withdrawal, and difficulty trusting others (8). As one can imagine, in addition to the violence, these are also stigmatizing experiences for farmworkers. Survivors face gossip, blame from others, ostracism, and oftentimes retaliation (8). And farmworker women already experience double the rate of depression as compared to the general public (9).

Why it’s important to address workplace sexual harassment

Workplace sexual harassment in Agriculture is an ongoing problem that needs serious attention. Farmworkers are essential workers feeding us all, so workplace injustices that negatively impact farmworkers—-from lack of health and safety protections to high rates of sexual harassment—are also larger inequities. Farmworkers are vulnerable workers due to factors ranging from immigration status to language to poverty. COVID-19 has made vulnerable workers even more vulnerable as the potential loss of work is a looming threat over every worker’s head in this devastated economy. For farmworker women, this means COVID-19 has made them even more susceptible to sexual harassment; the already existing power imbalances–that lead to high rates of sexual harassment in the first place—are now heightened by the crisis. To bring about a change in the culture of agriculture and prevent/eliminate sexual harassment, we need to take swift action.

The Solution 

The BASTA Coalition of Washington’s mission is to prevent sexual harassment in agriculture and improve the safety and security of the agricultural workplace and community. We propose to accomplish this by developing a comprehensive prevention-based approach that strongly collaborates with key stakeholders to promote community awareness, worksite training, and protective policies. In July 2021, we were funded for a 2-year statewide program to prevent farmworker sexual harassment through peer training, that includes: 1) Peer-to-peer training and evaluation of sexual harassment training curriculum; and 2) Building a statewide network of peer trainers as farmworker leaders whose primary purpose is to prevent workplace sexual harassment and assault through leadership, education, and other tools.

We appreciate your concern and support. Together we can promote community and workplace solutions to eliminate this inequity for farmworkers.

OUR PARTNERS

Alianza Nacional de Campesinas: https://www.alianzanacionaldecampesinas.org/

Columbia Legal Services: https://columbialegal.org/

Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center: https://www.ipjc.org/

Legal Voice: https://www.legalvoice.org/

Northwest Justice Project: https://nwjustice.org/home

Radio KDNA / El Proyecto Bienestar: https://deohs.washington.edu/pnash/epb

UW Bothell School of Nursing & Health Studies: https://www.uwb.edu/nhs

UW Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety & Health Center: https://deohs.washington.edu/pnash/

WA Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs (WCSAP): https://www.wcsap.org/

WA State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV): https://wscadv.org/

WA State Human Rights Commission: https://www.hum.wa.gov/

& Yakima Farmworkers

OUR FOUNDERS

Dr. Victoria Breckwich Vásquez (UW Bothell)

Former Representative Phyllis Gutiérrez-Kenney (WA State Legislature, 1997-2012)

Mr. Guadalupe Gamboa (WA State Human Rights Commission)

HISTORY OF THE COALITION

Farmworker sexual harassment prevention research-to-action initiatives first began in 2012 when Dr. Breckwich Vasquez joined the UW Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health (PNASH) Center as their Director of Community Engagement & Outreach. Since then, PNASH has been a supporter of this work and other efforts that develop research projects to improve the health and safety of agricultural workers in the Pacific Northwest. 

Since then, Dr. Victoria Breckwich Vasquez and Dr. Jody Early, both at the School of Nursing & Health Studies at UW Bothell, have been working with farmworkers, experts, advocates, and growers to better understand the significance of this problem while searching for underlying causes and developing solutions. The results of many years of research have yielded the ¡BASTA! Workplace Sexual Harassment Prevention Toolkit and other resources. Further studies are being explored to examine the outcomes of this body of work.

The BASTA Coalition of Washington (formerly known as Washington Coalition to Eliminate Farmworker Sexual Harassment) was launched in November of 2017 and currently boasts 21 organizational representatives. The coalition brings together farmworkers, researchers, advocates, and state officials to address farmworker sexual harassment through advocacy, education, and policy. We aim to protect farmworkers’ health and safety in Washington state and spread awareness through media attention.

COALITION’S COMMITTEES

The BASTA Coalition of Washington depends upon the work of each of these committees to move our mission forward towards action. We welcome all those who would like to support the Coalition to join any of our 4 committees. 

Student Justice Committee 

The Student Justice Committee is a collective of students driven by the Coalition’s mission and vision of eliminating sexual harassment against farmworker women. As such, this committee relies heavily on building out Coalition awareness through outreach. This committee is comprised of students (UW Bothell, UW, other area universities) who are interested in resolving sexual harassment on farms and want to learn about how they can help. In some cases, students receive academic credit for their participation. 

Education & Training Committee 

The Education & Training Committee is committed to training farmworkers, advocates, and others on sexual harassment prevention using the ¡BASTA! Preventing Sexual Harassment in Agriculture Curriculum. 

The ¡BASTA! Worksite Training & Toolkit is a comprehensive worksite resource for agricultural employers, educators, trainers, and farmworkers that was developed in collaboration with the agricultural community using a community-based participatory research approach. It includes training videos, a trainer’s guide, guidance for workplace policies and procedures, workplace posters, and key resources. The training video centers around the story of a farmworker and the challenges she faces when she experiences harassment in the workplace. Her story highlights what to do if you experience or witness harassment: who to report to and what information to share. The curriculum also acknowledges the trauma of sexual violence and how cultural barriers can inhibit workers from coming forward. The toolkit takes a multi-level approach by underscoring the roles and responsibilities everyone has for preventing harassment from the growers to the supervisors and the workers. The ¡BASTA! Worksite Training and Toolkit is a well-researched and evidence-based curriculum that was recently awarded Health Education Materials Award for training by the American Public Health Association.

The Coalition’s Training Advocates on Sexual Harassment Project (July-Dec 2020) trained 38 advocates and certified 8 individuals throughout the state. As of March 2021, PNASH staff and affiliates have trained over 562 workers, supervisors, and other agricultural staff in the industry. 

Policy Committee

Much of the work around the elimination of sexual harassment in the workplace relies on mending and creating policies. Thus, our policy committee is involved in conducting lobbying and advocacy to gain support from state legislators for our programmatic work.  Additional committee interests include building and sustaining a farmworker statewide leadership network that focuses on sexual harassment prevention through education and policy. 

Farmworker Empowerment Committee 

Overwhelmingly, farmworker women are continuously silenced and left without spaces of support after workplace sexual harassment occurs. As the issue has perpetuated over time, many women have led the way in spreading awareness to fellow workers and partners. The Farmworker Empowerment committee aims to uplift the voices of Farmworker women by giving them the space to advocate on behalf of sexual harassment in farm labor. Activities include establishing networks of trainers that encourage others to join the cause and educating on workers’ rights and protections and supporting a youth group to reach young girls and share prevention messages. 

This Committee also encourages farmworkers to speak out against sexual harassment that is happening on our farms and encourages people to join the cause as well.

REFERENCES

1. World Health Organization. 1948. Preamble to the Constitution of World Health Organization, as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19 June – 22 July 1946.

2. Ramchandani, A. 2018. “There’s a Sexual-Harassment Epidemic on America’s Farms.” The Atlantic (Jan 29).

3. Washington State Department of Agriculture. 2018. Retrieved from: https://agr.wa.gov/getmedia/7ffe2d19-b0d4-42b3-b870-4ed1992c5807/441a-fastfactswsdagen.pdf 

4. Washington State Employment Security Department. 2015. 2013 Agricultural Workforce p.5 (May).

5. Human Rights Watch. 2012. Cultivating Fear: The Vulnerability of Immigrant Farmworkers in the US to Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment, 16.

6. Department of Labor. 2017. National Agricultural Workers Survey (2015-16)

7. Waugh, I.M. 2010. Examining the Sexual Harassment Experiences of Mexican Immigrant Farmworking Women, Violence Against Women, 8 (January)

8. Okechuku, C.A., Souza, K., Davis, K.D., et al. 2013. “Discrimination, Harassment, Abuse and Bullying in the Workplace: Contribution of Workplace Injustice to Occupational Health Disparities.” American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Vol 57(5), 573-586.

9. Pulgar, C.A. et al. 2016. “Economic Hardship and Depression among Women in Latino Farmworker Families.” Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, Vol 18(3), 497-504.