¡Ya Basta!
Enough is enough. The #metoo movement has become the talk of the news because of all the high profile women coming forward to tell their stories, and the powerful men being accused of sexual assault. However, it is easy to ignore women who are not as famous or rich as these celebrities. A popular social media account, Mitú, writes about issues regarding Latinos in the American community and around the world. On their Snapchat account, they told the story of night shift janitors, mostly Latina women, who used their experiences with violent sexual assault to start a movement and lead the discussion about an issue unbeknownst to the community that came way before #metoo.
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| Picture of a woman cleaning at night from Google |
Because these women are working alone at night, there is no one there to save them when an attacker strikes. Supervisors who take advantage of these women use the women's undocumented statuses in order to scare them from going to the police due to the immigration policies upheld in America. In fear of deportation, the women either choose to quit their jobs or continue working for the men who brutally rape them. Both of these scenarios harp negative consequences that follow these women for the rest of their lives. A lot of these women do not even go the hospital afraid that deportation officers will be called, separating them from their children and families.
The Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West added a question about sexual assault to their survey sent to the janitors in the area and the results showed that "about half of the 5,000 workers who responded had been sexually harassed or sexually assaulted at work, and another quarter had witnessed it". When these many people are affected by sexual assault, there needed to be a solution.
The union recruited democratic assemblywoman, Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, to help them tackle this issue of sexual harassment. She introduced the Property Services Workers Protection Act, which states that employers of janitors in California must keep records, distribute notices, and take part in required sexual violence and harassment prevention training.
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| Picture of a march in Los Angeles in support of the movement from Google |
In order to raise support for this bill, women and men began to rally throughout California blocking intersections holding signs that read "End Rape on the Night Shift" and "¡Ya Basta!", which means "enough is enough" in Spanish. Women who were assaulted began to speak out and finally tell their stories, after holding it in for years. They began to use their strength in self-defense classes because women should know how to defend themselves. One of the standout events of support shown by the community was when two dozen female legislators wore janitors’ uniforms to the California State Capitol to show their support for women working the night shift, displaying that all the women are united in this issue and were doing everything they could to get this bill passed.
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| Picture of women while on hunger strike from Google |
In late 2016, 18 women staged a hunger strike outside the California State Capitol in order to put pressure on Governor Jerry Brown to sign the bill created by Gonzalez Fletcher's bill. According to one of the survivors, Martha Mejia, this was not just a strike to pass the bill, but a strike to cleanse themselves of the abuse they suffered through. After an assault, women tend to blame themselves instead of their perpetrators, often feeling "dirty". This strike allowed these women to regain their inner strength. On the fourth day of the hunger strike, a representative from the governor's office came to the woman with the good news that the bill was passed. They celebrated with tears and hugs, feeling absolved of all the hate and pain they endured.
The law will finally be enacted in 2018, and janitorial companies in California must abide by its rules or else they cannot do business in California. These strides for this group of women is just the beginning. They are coming out from the shadows and proudly speaking out. They deserve to be heard because time is up for perpetrators of sexual violence. This movement can be placed in tandem with #metoo because all women who have suffered through this abuse deserve the opportunity to find justice and peace within their lives.
This was honestly really moving. There is not enough exposure of the suffering immigrants and other races get when living in this country. When I looked at the title for this post, I was like, “what does that mean?” But now I know, and I think more movements and phrases like this should exist for our other minorities in this country. There are so many untold stories and nothing’s going to happen if they remain untold.
ReplyDeleteThis blog makes an amazing point about how non-celebrities are not as represented with the #metoo movement as women like Simon or Halsey. I had no idea about this Ya Basta movement. What would be really interesting to put in your next blog is possibly writing about the sexual defense classes that you briefly touched upon. I recently saw that a school in Africa is teaching young girls around 2nd grade or so which I thought you might find interest with.
ReplyDeleteThis was really sad, but was also a necessary topic to discuss. It is devastating reading about immigrants who are lying in the shadows even though bad things are happening to them too. It is horrible that these individuals are not able to come out and tell authorities of their struggles due to them being afraid of legal issues. I loved how you took this approach of representing immigrant Spanish women in regards to the #metoo movement. Usually, the #metoo movement focuses on those with high authority or power. However, we often forget about those in our everyday lives - those who are considered "normal" or of lesser authority. Overall, really nice post!
ReplyDeleteThis issue is one that I had no idea about before reading this post, but it is tremendously harrowing and saddening to learn that women simply trying to do their job and make a life for themselves and their families were subject to this mistreatment and abuse. I find the actions of Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher and the Union inspirational and powerful. Thank you for bringing this other side of the #metoo movement to our attention!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that more and more women are finding the strength to come forward about sexual assault. It's always sad when women begin to blame themselves for the despicable acts of someone else. I had no idea this movement had started, but it is important that it did. I'm glad that these strong women were able to get the bill passed in California, and hopefully in the near future the situation will improve.
ReplyDeleteYes, enough is enough. It is unfair that immigrants are suffering because they are afraid of deportation. Whether they are legal immigrants or not, rape is rape and enough is enough. I think it's far past time to speak up for all women and all people who have suffered from sexual abuse. Sexual abuse isn't limited to these minority populations, but the fear of deportation surely makes it a whole lot worse. This would be a great issue to advocate for!!
ReplyDeleteI am absolutely appalled at the thought of supervisors taking advantage of women working their night shifts. To think that people who are supposed to be leading others are blackmailing these woman into keeping a secret that is physically, emotionally, and mentally harmful to themselves all because their position of power is lower disgusts me. I am so glad to hear that self-defense classes are being implemented. I am absolutely in support of these women learning to protect themselves from possible attackers. It is terrifying to say that this is what our world has come to. It pains me knowing that without any knowledge of any form of self-defense, women are very seriously in danger in our modern day society.
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