Kristin Palitza interviews labour and gender expert GRISCHELDA HARTMAN
CAPE TOWN, Aug 25 2010 (IPS) – South African farm workers especially female labourers continue to be exploited, despite the existence of national labour laws and regulations designed to protect them. But in the absence of information and education about their rights, workers have a hard time claiming them.
Hartman: Because of the level of exploitation, it is key that we give more support to vulnerable workers, especially women. Credit: Kristin Palitza/IPS
Grischelda Hartman, who coordinates the Ditsela Workers Education Institute in South Africa s Western Cape province, wants to change this. She provides support and education, including gender training, to workers through trade unions, labour and community-based workers organisations.
Hartman particularly focuses on teaching female workers about labour laws, occupational health and safety as well as literacy skills.
Q: What are the particular training needs of (female) farm workers?
A: Because of the level of exploitation, it is key that we give more support to vulnerable workers, especially women. Their level of education and literacy is generally low, which means that they don t have access to information, for instance, about legislation.
Farm workers also don t have much access to skill building. Farm owners, on whose farms the workers usually live, don t make provision for training; don t give them time off. So there is no or very little upskilling.
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Women farm workers are the lowest paid and the first to lose their jobs when there is less work available. Because they also don t have access to training, there is just no way for them to move up, to increase their salary and to improve their standard of living.
And because women are usually the caretakers of the family, this has a negative impact on their children as well.
Q: How do female farm workers access health care services?
A: More often than not, farm workers don t have access to health care. Because they tend to live far out on remote farms without access to transport, they are cut off from the public health care system. Yet, especially women, labourers are exposed to many health risks on farms.
We need to put pressure on farm owners to provide their workers with health services, for example through mobile clinics. We need regular health check-ups on all farms, including HIV testing, family planning and sexual and reproductive health services. Once again, education of farm workers is important, so that they know their rights and can demand them.
Q: What are women s main health risks on farms?
A: Alcohol continues to be abused on most South African farms. And alcohol abuse has numerous negative consequences for women s health because it comes with increased levels of domestic violence and HIV incidence. We urgently need more education on farms around how alcohol affects the social environment and especially women s sexual and reproductive health.
The issue of alcoholism is inherent to farming in South Africa, and there is a big problem of genetically triggered alcoholism. We also hear from farm workers that alcohol is still used as a method of payment on some farms, even though this is illegal.
Alcohol abuse also bears many risks for farm workers children, who are exposed to violence, abuse and, perhaps most importantly, foetal alcohol syndrome. Alcoholism also often means that parents buy alcohol instead of food, and the children go hungry as a result. This turns into a cycle of malnutrition and ill health, slow learning and cognitive impairment and lack of opportunities in life.
Q: What other health risks are female farm workers exposed to?
A: We have a big problem with them not being alerted to the potential dangers of pesticides they have to work with. They are not educated about the toxicity, or don t even know what that means. In other instances, the protective gear necessary to protect workers working with pesticides is not provided. As a result, we have female labourers giving birth to children with defects on our farms.
Q: Can labourers, especially women, own land?
A: Access to land remains a big debate in South Africa. It is still largely in private hands. That means that one farmer owns a large piece of land and his workers are housed on the farm, but they don t own anything, not the house, not the land.
But there are also positive examples, where farmers give workers small pieces of land on which they can produce. On those farms, we quickly see an improvement in poverty levels. But, unfortunately, the majority of farm owners do not offer this option.
Q: Housing conditions also continue to be poor. What does this mean for the health of women farm workers?
A: Labourers houses are small and built badly. They are hot in summer and cold in winter. We know that having a whole family sleep in a one-roomed house drastically increases the risk of sexual abuse for both women and children.
Most houses don t have their own toilets, and communal toilets lack sanitation and privacy, which in turn creates risks with regards to women s health and gender-based violence. In addition, there is no access to toilets out in the fields. That means women have to squat in the field without privacy or dignity.
Q: What needs to be done to improve the conditions of farm workers, especially female labourers?
A: We need to raise more awareness of the abuse of workers rights. Unions and government need to jointly put lots of pressure on farm owners. We need ongoing monitoring to ensure farm owners comply with existing laws and regulations, especially those relating to occupational health and safety, housing and sanitation and education for farm workers children.
The Department of Labour should play an active role here.
