Immigrant female workers are sexually harassed and coerced in greenhouses and fields housing Italian vegetables, which are grown to be exported internationally. I went to Sicily, to the area of Vittoria (close to Ragusa), where there are 5,000 workers from Romania and where I met 35 Romanians. All the women have dealt with, or know someone close to them who has dealt with, sexual harassment and each told me that they know that this crime happens “in seven out of ten greenhouses”. This practice of coercion has been denounced by trade unions, human rights associations, priests in Italy, but nothing has changed. Reporting sexual harassment to the police is most often unsuccessful because women are not believed. The police often side with bosses. Despite their difficult situation, the women deploy tactics of everyday resistance, for example avoiding being alone with the bosses, screaming or simply telling them to go away.
