In the newly released report, Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, sexual harassment is shown to be pervasive in the nation’s schools.

Sexual harassment is part of everyday life in middle and high schools. Nearly half (48 percent) of the students surveyed experienced some form of sexual harassment in the 2010–11 school year, and the majority of those students (87 percent) said it had a negative effect on them.

The report includes recommendation for prevention. Administrations are recommened to make preventing sexual harassment a priority. Educators need to respond and educate about this issue, and students can speak up and take action in their own schools.

The report was released by the American Association of University Women, an organization that previously released the groundbreaking reports, Hostile Hallways (1993) and the 2001 follow up report, Hostile Hallways: Bullying Teasing and Sexual Harassment in School.

Click here for more information about this report.

A 14-year-old female honor roll student is being forced to choose between her education or her safety as a result of school district budget cuts. The Twin River Unified School District has decided to discontinue its school bus service that picks students up at predetermined locations and takes them to their local high schools. Without the bus service, the young girl must leave home at 6:30 a.m. — usually before sunrise — to walk approximately 2.4 miles to get to school by 7:30 a.m. On several occasions men have stopped while driving their cars to proposition the young girl regarding sexual acts. Some of these men proceeded to follow her for several blocks hurling insults at her because she ignored and rejected their advances.

The girl informed her mother that she is afraid to walk to school because of the numerous sexual offers being made by older men. The girl wants to stay at home and forgo going to school until a solution can be made that ensures she does not have to tolerate the inappropriate behavior and can feel safe going to and from school.

The mother is feeling helpless because she is blind and has great difficulty walking with  her daughter to school. In addition, the family is on a limited income (below the poverty level for a family of three) and cannot afford the $50 monthly city bus pass that would allow the girl to catch the city bus that is a mile away from her house and would drop her off one block from the school.

This week, the high school is closed due to President’s Week break, but session will resume on Monday February 28, 2011. I told the mom that I would assist them in coming up with  solutions to this problem. If you have any suggestions or advice, please provide it in the comment box below.

Recently, I came upon a story entitled, Women Workers Organizing Against Sexual Harassment, which featured a short video of female women who had organized against issues of sexual harassment at Guimarra Vineyards, where they are employed.  They were successful in gathering a petition of support signed by over 16,000 people and, as shown in the video, proudly submitted it to the Vineyards.

With SAAM 2010 quickly approaching, it’s important to keep in mind and highlight local movements such as these across the State.  One way that the Southern Poverty Law Center has been bringing attention to the issue of sexual harassment against farmworking women is through the Bandana Project. You can learn more about the Bandana Project here.

You can also read the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) press release regarding the Giumarra Vineyards case, here.

Robert Coombs

(69 min) This is a two-part presentation given by David Lee, Director of Prevention Services at the California Coalition Against Sexual Assailt, (CALCASA) and Robert Coombs, Directory of Public Affairs at the CALCASA. This presentation, titled Activating Communities and Individuals to Achieve Cultural Change, was given at the U.S. Army Sexual Harassment / Assault Response & Prevention (SHARP) Summit on April 9, 2009, in Arlington, Virginia.

In this recording, David Lee and Robert Coombs highlight lessons learned from CALCASA’s MyStrength program about using social marketing tools to shift cultural norms around sexual assault. They are introduced by Carolyn Collins, Director of the SHARP Program. Click here to view video clips from the Summit on the SHARP website.

[Go to Presentation Part 1]   [Go to Presentation Part 2]

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, AL, launched the Bandana Project through their program Esperanza: The Immigrant Woman’s Legal Initiative. Esperanza, which means “hope” in Spanish, focuses on the issues of harassment and sexual assault of farmworker women. The National Initiative provides education on workplace rights to farmworking women and works to raise awareness of this issue in communities throughout the United States.  Monica Ramirez, an attorney at the SPLC who directs the initiative,  began this program while working as an Equal Justice Works fellow in Florida.  She states:

“For a long time, no one was talking about this. Women were too often afraid to come forward. No legal services program was focusing on this issue, and few organizations had expertise or resources to dedicate to it. But we need to know about it, and we need to be outraged. We want these women to have a voice, and we want these companies to pay for the illegal behavior that’s being committed in their workplace.”

The program not only focuses on farmworker women but also on all immigrant women working in low-income sectors such as meat-packing plants, canneries, and  hotel and service industries. From the experiences of these women, the Esperanza Initiative decided to launch the Bandana Project as a campaign to help raise awareness of the exploitation of farmworking women. The reason for using the Bandanas came from the experiences of farmworker women who say that they use the bandanas, as well as over sized clothing, to try to hide their gender to protect themselves from sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace.  The campaign also uses the bandanas as a public display of solidarity and support for victims and survivors of this violence.

During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, many cities across the Nation invite their communities, including members of the farmworking communities, universities and other agencies, to decorate bandanas. These decorated bandanas are then displayed in public areas such as museums, libraries, and community centers throughout the month of April. Many Rape Crisis Centers in California are now including displays such as these during their SAAM activities and events.  Monica Ramirez adds,

“Through this project, we try to bring a sense of hope, confidence and the will to be brave. It is our wish that these women will see our encouragement as a sign that they no longer have to suffer in silence.”

Watch a video about Campaign here: Bandana Project

For more information about the Bandana Project and how you can begin a campaign in your community, visit the Southern Poverty Law Center’s website .