Lupe Gonzalo works in the tomato fields of Immokalee, Fla., worlds apart from the Hollywood celebrities whose #MeToo testimony is exposing widespread sexual violence and toppling powerful men. Yet, Gonzalo says that it is women like her, “with no platform and no voice, invisible and vulnerable,” who bear the brunt of workplace sexual assault—and who offer lessons in how to band together to defeat it.
“Of course, it is incredibly important to pay attention to the suffering of all women, particularly women who work in industries and live in a society that doesn’t have protections, basic rights, where abuse is incredibly rampant,” says Gonzalo, referring to the #MeToo movement, first sparked in 2007 by Tarana Burke. “Looking at the extremity of that violence here, farmworkers began to create a solution and built a program to ensure our own rights.”