"Study: Women farmworkers in Michigan face unique work challenges,"

Farm work is considered to be a physically and mentally demanding career. It’s been associated with high stress levels and anxiety. The job means long hours in sometimes harsh conditions. A recent University of Michigan study found that farm work has specific difficulties for women.

The study’s results found that women farmworkers are primarily facing five dimensions of heightened occupational stressors. These areas include gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, reproductive health concerns, pregnancy challenges, and work-life balance issues...

Men and women received similar tasks and were subject to the same productivity quotas, even if the women were pregnant.

It also found that women frequently reported inappropriate behavior from male workers...

Participants also described a “culture of silence,” according to the study, because victims of assaults were blamed for being too friendly with male workers or supervisors. The women who were victims of such assaults said they did not want to report the crime because of a fear of retaliation or because they felt vulnerable due to their immigration status.

Another concern of the farmworkers interviewed was that women had inadequate access to bathrooms, which were sometimes miles away from farmworkers taking breaks...

Women who participated in the study said they often did not share their pregnancy status with employers because of a belief that pregnant women in the industry are often denied work. They said they feared being fired or having hours reduced because agricultural workers are held to high productivity standards...