(The Center Square) – Women who work in fields and other outdoor spaces would get free menstrual products if a new bill introduced in the California Legislature passes this year.
Assembly Bill 2082, introduced by Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez, R-Indio, would require nonprofits that work with farmworker communities to provide free menstrual products to women who work on farms, fields and other agricultural businesses.
“Women in those fields don’t always have access to the basic hygiene products they need,” Gonzalez said during a press conference Tuesday morning. “That is not just inconvenient; it’s unacceptable. No woman should have to choose between her health, her dignity and her paycheck.”
Women who spoke at the news conference said female farmworkers often have to use materials not meant for menstrual hygiene to be able to keep working.
“There were times when she had to use rags, paper or even pieces of her own clothing because she had no access to menstrual products,” Perla Sanchez, the daughter of a migrant worker, said of her mother’s experience. “She could not afford them. There were no stores nearby, and she was too ashamed to ask for help.”
According to a study published by the American Journal of Community Psychology, female farmworkers have considerable challenges related to performing their work while on their menstrual period. Employers in these settings often have sign-in sheets for workers who use the bathroom, and the number of trips to the bathroom is limited for workers. Women who work in these jobs sometimes aren’t able to access restrooms during their work day, and they have to work through menstrual cramps, despite taking medications like Tylenol.
Another 2024 study published in the Journal of Agromedicine found women who handle pesticides in their work can experience longer menstrual cycles, increased odds of missed periods and other reproductive health complications.
The announcement of AB 2082 came on the heels of allegations of sexual abuse of women and girls that surfaced against United Farm Workers cofounder Cesar Chavez. Women who knew the prominent farm labor movement leader, who died in 1993, said he groomed women and girls who worked in the farm labor movement, according to a New York Times investigation published on March 18.
Dolores Huerta, the most prominent woman in the labor movement, also said in that investigation and a statement that Chavez sexually assaulted her, which resulted in her having two children. Huerta cofounded UFW.
The Assembly unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution on Monday that renames Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day.
“The farmworker movement was never, ever about one man,” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, said on the Senate floor on Monday when the upper chamber considered the Assembly’s resolution. “Their legacy is not defined by one individual. It is defined by a movement – a movement for dignity, a movement for justice, a movement that still lives on today.”
While Gonzalez’s bill aims to aid women in the farm and agricultural settings, Gonzalez said the bill is the work of at least a year’s worth of meetings and conversations with women farmworkers, not a response to the allegations against Chavez.
“They [female farmworkers] told me about some of the issues that were going on, and through our conversations, they said this is actually an issue that we’re having,” Gonzalez said Tuesday in response to a question from The Center Square. “This is an issue that’s happening today. This issue is about the dignity of women who are working so hard.”
