Work on the banana plantations: Women Face Double Discrimination

By Jenny Vargas Quesada

A recent study conducted on a banana plantation in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica confirmed the existence of double discrimination for women on banana plantations: discrimination as banana workers and as women.

Historically, banana production in Costa Rica has been associated with the violation of human rights, especially the labor rights of workers. In over 100 years of banana production in Costa Rica, there have been many forms of violations of fundamental human rights, including poor treatment of blacks, Chinese, indigenous people, and the systematic violation of women workers.

In this historic context of violation and disrespect of human rights, women have not only been victims of working conditions that equally affect male workers, but also have suffered particularly because they are women. Even though we tend to believe that this is a problem of the past, the mistreatment of women workers continues until the present day. In a study conducted recently on a plantation in the Atlantic Zone, the conditions of both male and female workers were evaluated, and it was determined that female worker suffer worse violations of their rights than males.

Characteristics of the Study

The objective of this study was to determine if there is different treatment of male and female workers that perform the same jobs on the plantations, from both a legal and sociological perspective.

Data was collected through personal structured interviews with workers on one farm in the county of Guacimo in the province of Limon. Fourteen workers were interviewed, seven women and seven men, equal to 46% of those that work in selection of fruit in the packing plant. Interviews were conducted from March to May 2001.

Forms of Discrimination by Gender

Legal ordinances, both in Costa Rica and internationally, insure the right of equality, implying that people should not be discriminated for reasons of ethnicity, religion, sex, etc.

In the context of banana workers, we find many examples of gender based discrimination. Women workers receive lower salaries, with fewer opportunities of advancement even though they have the same skills and experience as male workers. This is in violation of Costa Rican labor laws which state that all workers, without discrimination, should have the same opportunities to obtain employment and should be considered eligible when they comply with the formal prerequisites stipulated by the employer. This investigation found many examples of this type of discrimination.

Another example of discrimination made evident in this study was that women workers are victims of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. Sexual harassment and assault are types of gender discrimination are prohibited by international and national law.

Gender discrimination is also faced by pregnant workers. These women are discriminated against in various ways including that they are often pressured to resign from their positions, and in some cases are fired, for being pregnant. Other women workers are not allowed time to leave to breastfeed their children. Female workers, because of fear of losing their work or good the good working relations they have established with their employers, avoid trying to claim their rights, and when they try, do so in a conforming and fearful manner. Due to this, women are not only discriminated against by others, but they also marginalize themselves by not using those legal mechanisms provided by the law.

The Costa Rican constitution prohibits all types of discrimination, and establishes labor laws to protect women workers. Under these laws, pregnant and lactating women are protected from losing employment. The lack of compliance with this law is a form of discrimination against pregnant women.

Discrimination and Affects on Organizing

The previously mentioned forms of discrimination create a condition in which there exists little participation by female workers in social organization and in little interest in having this type of organization to support female worker interests.

Female workers are victims of the same disloyal labor practices as male workers, including the system of black listing workers suspected of organizing. However, these same organizations (unions and solidarity associations) exclude women by not having clear policies designed to protect women’s needs and by not promoting women’s participation in decision making.

These examples discrimination, made evident by this investigation, allow it to be concluded that there exists a flagrant violation of constitutional principles and human rights, demonstrated in the discriminatory and unequal treatment of women workers.

During this investigation it was made evident, in general terms, that women are not aware of their rights nor of their particular problems. There is a level of ignorance amongst women workers of their rights. This is due to gender characteristics, the roles society has placed upon women, and the context in which women develop in society. In fact, male workers know more about the problems of female workers that the women themselves. While it is beneficial that this information is know by some workers, it would be better that women themselves had this knowledge.

The lack of information and interest results from the gender rolls established by the patriarchal society in Costa Rica. These same gender characteristics make women preferred for manual labor by capitalist companies because women are more submissive that males, accept lower salaries, and do not try to claim their rights. These are, of course, manifestations of sexism in our culture, and have been maintained in part by the acceptance of these conditions by women themselves.

The Government and Flexibility With Labor Rights

Despite the fact that legal protection for workers exists, legal “loopholes” have been found to avoid obeying them. As a consequence, labor has been degraded to a low-cost product with conditions that belittle the dignity of workers.

The Costa Rican government has not enforced those laws designed to avoid this for-mentioned situation from occurring. For this reason, Costa Rica is constantly being denounced by international labor organizations. These organizations, while they may seem provide little hope for the problems of the working class, demonstrate that in Costa Rica there are some possibilities for the protection of labor rights.