美国国家公共电台 NPR Low-Wage Workers Say #MeToo Movement Is A Chance For Change

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Gaming industry tycoon¹ Steve Wynn is denying charges that he sexually abused some of his employees. Restauranteurs John Besh and Mario Batali have stepped away from their businesses amid similar allegations. These men gained prominence² in industries where the staff is largely female, low-paid and where sexual harassment³ runs rampant⁴. Here's NPR's Yuki Noguchi.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE⁵: Isabel Escobar recalls climbing the stairs carrying cleaning supplies at a client's home in Chicago. The owner's adult son stood waiting for her on the landing naked. Escobar turned and fled.

ISABEL ESCOBAR: (Through interpreter) That was etched in my person. It cannot be erased⁶ - the fear, the distrust and my lack of confidence.

NOGUCHI: That was 15 years ago. Escobar, now 59, survived domestic violence at home and harassment as a housekeeper⁷. She says speaking out sometimes met with threats. One client told her he would report Escobar, illegal immigrant, to immigration.

ESCOBAR: (Speaking Spanish).

NOGUCHI: "I fight because I don't want this to happen to other women," she says. The campaign to speak out against such abuse began with women in Hollywood and in the media, those in positions of relative power and privilege. Now, women in retail⁸, agriculture and domestic work, where harassment rates run very high, say they too are starting to feel the impact of the Me Too movement.

VALERIE BIEGA: Yeah, the vibe is definitely that this is our shot to make a change - like, a lasting⁹ change.

NOGUCHI: Valerie Biega is 25 and a sous chef who has worked across the U.S.

BIEGA: I had co-workers who - sorry, talking about it just got me a little jittery¹⁰.

NOGUCHI: Biega fielded comments about her backside every time she bent¹¹ over or was alone in a walk-in cooler.

BIEGA: It's at the point where it's happened so much that I instinctively¹² shoot up as soon I hear a walk-in door open behind me.

NOGUCHI: She's perfected a stone-faced response she calls gray rock and says she's sharing these tips with other female kitchen workers online. Outside Cleveland, Moriah Montalvo is a social work student and concession¹³ stand cashier whose mother also faced harassment in the restaurant industry.

MORIAH MONTALVO: She quit because of it, and she, like, says she never would go back.

NOGUCHI: Her mom never spoke¹⁴ up. Montalvo does, but wants to see more than just talk.

MONTALVO: Social movements are awesome¹⁵, and they need to happen. However, they can be short-lived. And so it's not about just speaking out, it's about something else has to come behind it and sustain it.

NOGUCHI: Indeed, Lita Farquhar worries such systemic change won't come. For the last decade, she has waitressed in New Orleans, home of Chef John Besh, who faces numerous charges of sexual harassment.

LITA FARQUHAR: I mean, he just got to retire early. There weren't really any consequences for him.

NOGUCHI: Farquhar notes managers can retaliate¹⁶ by assigning bad shifts or less-desirable work. It's also not easy to defy a culture where the customer is always supposed to be right.

FARQUHAR: It's really hard when a customer sexually harasses¹⁷ you because, as a server, I make 2.13 a hour, and I really rely on tips.

NOGUCHI: A majority of states allow restaurants to pay waitstaff who earn tips less than the minimum wage, as low as $2.13 an hour. For Saru Jayaraman, president of the Restaurant Opportunities Center United, that is the main problem.

SARU JAYARAMAN: Seventy percent of these workers who live on the tip minimum wage are women and they suffer from three times the poverty rate and the highest rates of sexual harassment of any industry because they must put up with all kinds of inappropriate customer behavior.

NOGUCHI: Seven states do not permit a subminimum wage, and according to a 2014 study by Jayaraman's group, harassment rates there are half that of states that permit the lower wage. There are additional policy changes other worker advocates say could help in many sectors¹⁸, not just restaurants. One is to eliminate fine print employment contracts that require workers to keep harassment claims private.

Farmworker Teresa Arredondo says she wants to see changes making it easier to report harassment. Arredondo, who is 49, last April survived an attempted rape¹⁹ by her supervisor²⁰. After she reported the incident, she says the farm's owner fired her attacker but also cut Arredondo and the 50-woman crew she oversees²¹ in the fields. She anguished²² over the loss of work but says she doesn't regret speaking out.

TERESA ARREDONDO: I feel good because he doesn't get more girls. This is my compensation.

NOGUCHI: Monica Ramirez says, for women who work in isolation²³, rewarding whistleblowers and bystanders for reporting incidents is critical.

MONICA RAMIREZ: In the criminal justice realm, people are told that if they see something, they should say something.

NOGUCHI: Ramirez is president of farm workers group Alianza Nacional de Campesinas. She says she wants to see changes that benefit everyone.

RAMIREZ: We can't just say we're going to address this problem in one industry and then forget about all the others that have been impacted. Farmworker women have been left behind for many, many, many years.

NOGUCHI: The biggest gift of the Me Too movement, she says, is that it has united women across industries to demand change. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF MELODIUM'S "MENIERE'S VERTIGO")

1 tycoon   

n.有钱有势的企业家，大亨

参考例句：

• The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。
• The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。

2 prominence   

n.突出；显著；杰出；重要

参考例句：

• He came to prominence during the World Cup in Italy.他在意大利的世界杯赛中声名鹊起。
• This young fashion designer is rising to prominence.这位年轻的时装设计师的声望越来越高。

3 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

4 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 erased   

v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案，写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义，消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 housekeeper   

n.管理家务的主妇，女管家

参考例句：

• A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
• She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家，一家人吃得很省。

8 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

9 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

10 jittery   

adj. 神经过敏的, 战战兢兢的

参考例句：

• However, nothing happened though he continued to feel jittery. 可是，自从拉上这辆车，并没有出什么错儿，虽然他心中嘀嘀咕咕的不安。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• The thirty-six Enterprise divebombers were being squandered in a jittery shot from the hip. 这三十六架“企业号”上的俯冲轰炸机正被孤注一掷。

11 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

12 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

16 retaliate   

v.报复，反击

参考例句：

• He sought every opportunity to retaliate against his enemy.他找机会向他的敌人反击。
• It is strictly forbidden to retaliate against the quality inspectors.严禁对质量检验人员进行打击报复。

17 harasses   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的第三人称单数 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• This man harasses his female co-workers. 这个人骚扰他的女同事。 来自互联网
• A drone attacks and harasses the SCV building the bunker, preventing it from being completed. 但工蜂攻击并骚扰建造这座掩体的工程兵，阻止工程兵完成掩体的建造。 来自互联网

18 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

19 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

20 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

21 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

22 anguished   

adj.极其痛苦的v.使极度痛苦(anguish的过去式)

参考例句：

• Desmond eyed her anguished face with sympathy. 看着她痛苦的脸，德斯蒙德觉得理解。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The loss of her husband anguished her deeply. 她丈夫的死亡使她悲痛万分。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

23 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。