"Mónica Ramírez is a co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, the founder of Justice for Migrant Women and Gender Justice Campaigns Director for National Domestic Workers Alliance. Ramírez penned the "Dear Sisters" letter published by TIME on Nov. 10, 2017, on behalf of Alianza, its members and the farmworker women whose interests it represents. She was named a recipient of the Smithsonian’s 2018 Ingenuity Award for Social Progress with Alianza’s co-founder Mily Treviño-Sauceda.
Last year, farmworker women captured many people’s attention when Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (National Farmworkers Women’s Alliance) published what became known as the “Dear Sisters” letter in TIME. It was a letter written on behalf of women employed in agriculture to the women employed in the entertainment industry who had disclosed sexual violence against them by powerful people in their industry.
...As organizers who are part of the farmworker movement and as people who identify with the farmworker community, we, the founders and members of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, believe that no matter where someone works, no matter how much they get paid or how well-known they are by society, they deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and fairness. All workers, irrespective of their profession or their place on the economic ladder, deserve to be safe from sexual violence. Everyone should be able to live and do their job free from all forms of violence, whether it be sexual, verbal, emotional or physical. This belief is among our core values.
The reality is that many workers suffer indignities and harm, not just women working in the fields or those employed on movie sets. Sadly, workers — especially women — employed in every sector of every industry experience workplace sexual violence. Some women are more vulnerable to this mistreatment, like those who are of color, immigrants, LGBTQ, disabled, young, employed in low-paying jobs or any combination of those factors. The result of this is devastating emotional, physical and economic harm for all of those who experience it."
