US Latinx Activism and Protests: From the Farm to the (Legislative) Table

Women in the Movement

Monica Ramirez: 

Monica Ramirez was born in Ohio in 1979 and was the daughter of migrant workers. She organized several projects in the U.S. combatting sexual harassment and other forms of gender discrimination against female farmworkers. Ramirez was the first female Latinx activist to help change polices and create projects that raised awareness about sexual violence in the workplace. She founded an award-winning Bandana Project that discusses sexual violence through art and inspired others to join the movement. In addition, she served as a deputy director of Centro de los Derechos del Migrante which was the first transnational migrant workers’ rights organization in Mexico. She also found Justice for Migrant Women which which gave a voice to female farm and migrant workers who were victims of sexual assault in the workplace. She empowered women to work together to fight patriarchal standards and create a safe space for women to discuss their issues in the workplace. As an attorney, she fought against injustices against women and migrant workers which helped change lives and inspire change in the legal system in the U.S.

Jessie de la Cruz: 

Jessie Lopez was born in 1919 in California and she began farm work at five years of age. Since the beginning of her life, she lived in poverty and endured harsh working and living conditions. Lopez joined the United States farm workers union to help her people rise above poverty and discrimination. She wanted to stop land monopolies from exploiting her people through unions and creating new policies. She supported women and men working together in the fields and receiving equal treatment. She organized and participated in many strikes and protests to raise awareness to the gender issues and discrimination all migrant and farm workers endured. Lopez was driven to change the way her people were viewed through spreading information and trying to reduce stereotypes that proliferate discrimination. She became a delegate for the U.S. national convention which shows she had influence on the selection of  political leaders which helped change the politics of the day.

 

This page has paths: