Immigrant Women in United States Vulnerable to Workplace Exploitation Agencia EFE
go to original September 21, 2014

Read the report: Out of the Shadows: Shedding Light on the Working Conditions of Immigrant Women in Tucson

Immigrant women in Arizona are vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace and are often paid less than the minimum wage, particularly if they are undocumented, researchers at the University of Arizona said.

"We continually hear such stories and we want the community and our government to realize what is happening and to do something about it," Nina Rabin, associate professor at UA's James E. Rogers College of Law, told Efe.

Rabin is co-author of "Out of the Shadows: Shedding Light on the Working Conditions of Immigrant Women in Tucson," a report from Rogers' Bacon Immigration Law & Policy Program and the Southwest Institute for Research on Women.

The authors interviewed some 90 working women plus 29 government officials and community leaders.

"We discovered repeated stories of abuse, exploitation and the failure to pay fair wages," Rabin said about the women interviewed, of whom 82 percent were of Mexican origin.

Fifty-eight percent of the subjects had work permits, 91 percent had children and 94 percent contributed financially to their households.

Seven of the 70 workers paid by the hour said they earned less than the minimum wage.

Read the rest at La Prensa

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