NEW YORK Marching through Manhattan waving a yellow flag, amid people carrying colorful cardboard bushels of tomatoes, Antonia Martinez raised her voice. She was demanding decent working conditions and an end to sexual harassment and violence in farm fields.

The message came through loud and clear as the group of farmworkers and their allies took over streets during rush hour on March 15, reminding passersby that female farmworkers are especially vulnerable to sexual harassment and violence, and deserve to be part of the reckoning sweeping other industries in the Me Too era.

For years, Martinez said, she and other women who picked tomatoes in Florida were unable to fight against sexual harassment they experienced because we had no support, we had nowhere to turn.

The managers Americans wanted to have rights over the women who worked there. They asked for sexual favors, and if women didnt comply they wouldnt have a job the next day, Martinez, 48, said in Spanish. She has worked in Florida fields for 15 years.