Ryan ChartrandImagine a 12-year-old girl who not only has to work in a factory making 50 cents an hour to assemble Gam Boys, DVD players, clothes and food products but also has to worry about her safety to and from her home – if she even has one.
Documentary filmmaker Barbara Martinez Jitner discussed the mistreatment, working conditions and murders of 400 young Mexican female workers near the cities of Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico, to a full audience of Cal Poly faculty and students Thursday morning at Vista Grande Café.
Martinez Jitner was invited to speak as part of Cal Poly’s Provocative Perspectives series to discuss her documentary “Femicide in Juarez: The Real Story of Bordertown.”
The film was made after she posed as a factory worker on the U.S./Mexico border in order to shed light on the issues of poverty, sexual abuse and murder that surround a lot of the female workers in these towns.
She is the first Latina ever to be nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Emmy as an executive producer, writer and director for the PBS series “American Family.” She said she uses her success in the industry to speak about the issues she uncovers by advocating for Amnesty International, a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights.
All of the profits from her speaking events go toward the group. Amnesty International heavily advocates for the 400 women who have been abducted and murdered since 1993 in Juarez and Chihuahua.
Many of the women were brutally beaten, humiliated and sexually abused for several days before being killed. Martinez Jitner said many of the murderers are not brought to justice because murder is not a federal crime in Mexico, and when many women disappear in a country that has hardly any documents on file for its citizens, it is hard for family members to make a case that their loved one is missing.
The filmmaker also stressed the negative effects of 1994’s North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA-), which eliminated the majority of tariffs on products traded among the United States, Canada and Mexico. This agreement, she said, makes it easier for large American companies to take advantage of the Mexican people.
“These companies make a profit per hour per person of $7.50,” Martinez Jitner stressed.
Most of the women at the factories make 50 cents an hour and these companies choose women because of their strong work ethic and their acceptance of the pay they receive. Many of these women support their families, so they have no choice but to take the minimal wages and work in harsh conditions. The workers are also exposed to high levels of toxic chemicals.
“The fumes are incredibly toxic; I even talked to the EPA and they said they are not supposed to be exposed to that. These women suffer miscarriages and suffer tremendous diseases because they are not supposed to be breathing these toxins in,” Martinez Jitner said.
“There are no regulations in these factories to protect these workers from these extreme toxins, and this is not being discussed at all.”
Her frustration with these conditions motivate her to share her story and her strong opinions on NAFTA and the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which now allows businesses to go to Central America and not pay tariffs.
“When you devalue someone to such a great extent it’s not a free trade agreement, it’s a slave trade agreement, to build products for this global economy. It sends the message that they have no value,” Martinez Jitner emphasized to her audience.
Cornel Morton, vice president of student affairs, called Martinez Jitner a “sh-hero” and spoke highly of her talk.
“It is a compelling tragedy. At this same time, it is important for people to know about this and how to work on the problem,” Morton said.
Cal Poly students were also compelled to take action.
Daniella Castro, an architectural engineering junior, feels that it is important to have speakers and events that raise socially-conscious issues on campus.
“The issue is getting the word out – it’s all about awareness and social issues. We are not just the radical crazy people. . We can’t make the entire university listen to us,” Castro said. “We (as students) need to get people involved, so we can actually get an audience.”
Joey Sanchez, president of the American Indian Association at Cal Poly and an aerospace engineering junior, also feels that education about these issues should be a solution to human rights violations.
“I think the most important thing students can do is educate themselves. Ninety nine percent of the students don’t know about it. The best thing would be that this gets taught in classes in like a GE or something where human rights violations like these can be heard by students,” he said. “Of course, no rational human being would agree with what happens.”
Castro added that Cal Poly should do more to give power and a voice to the world’s atrocious genocides.
“The best thing would be education and showing this documentary on campus.”