BBC World Service highlights Fair Food Program in global fight to combat sexual violence in agriculture!

Lupe Gonzalo on BBC World Service’s Food Chain: Through the Fair Food Program, “everyone knows that workers have the right to report abuse, and no one is allowed to retaliate against them for it.”

As the #MeToo movement continues to shine a light on the problem of sexual harassment and assault in worksites from Hollywood to the Silicon Valley, journalists at the BBC have turned their attention to some of the world’s most vulnerable working women: farmworkers.  On the BBC’s excellent weekly podcast, The Food Chain, producer and host Emily Thomas spoke with workers from the vineyards of South Africa, the shrimp farms of Bangladesh, and, of course, the tomato fields of Florida.

The landscape that the BBC’s investigate team uncovered was undeniably bleak, with reports of sexual violence, death threats, and broken systems of justice across three continents.  With one notable exception:  The Fair Food Program, the only example the reporters found of an initiative that was finally “holding large commercial farmers to account.”  Today, we bring you just the highlights of the half-hour Program, featuring CIW’s Lupe Gonzalo, who speaks extensively about her own experiences working in the fields, as well as the transformative power of the Fair Food Program to eliminate sexual violence, and bring about real change for women and men alike in the fields of the U.S.  We’d strongly encourage you to head over to the BBC’s website and listen to The Food Chain episode in full!