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If you’re concerned about the impact of your food choices on other people, there are two must-read (or at least skim) reports that have been published recently.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has published Injustice on Our Plates: Immigrant Women in the U.S. Food Industry. Researchers extensively interviewed 150 undocumented immigrant women from several states who have worked in the fields or factories that produce our food. The report reveals the conditions under which millions of immigrant women must work to try to feed their children and give them better lives. It outlines the many risks and opportunities for abuse and exploitation, from horrible working conditions to unfair wages to wage theft to sexual violence. In addition, workers are exposed to pesticides and other toxins, repetitive and life-threatening injuries and conditions, harassment, and more. And immigration policies and laws aren’t helping. As the report mentions,
“Communities and states across the country are enacting a patchwork of highly restrictive laws that will only drive undocumented immigrants further underground and make them even more exploitable by the businesses that employ them and the criminals who prey on them. Immigrant women face the additional danger of sexual assault and rape, crimes they often are afraid to report to police because it could lead to deportation.”
The Color of Food (pdf) is a new report by the Applied Research Center. It focuses on the “often-invisible labor that produces and prepares the food that we put on the table.” The report divides the food “chain” into four areas (production, processing, distribution, retail & service) and looks at issues of race, gender, wage gaps, distribution of management positions, and types of occupations involved. The report notes significant disparities in the kinds of jobs and wages held by white people versus people of color.
This is important information that we as humane educators, activists and concerned citizens need to add to our knowledge base, so that we can educate others about these issues and work for positive change.
~ Marsha
Image courtesy of Chris de Rham via Creative Commons.
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