CLEVELAND — Mónica Rámirez has dedicated most her life to helping migrant women, and now she’s being recognized for advocacy work as part of the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame’s class of 2025.
Born and raised in Fremont, Rámirez is the daughter and granddaughter of farmworkers. Rámirez said she began her advocacy work at age 14, later graduating from The Ohio State University in 2003, and becoming the first attorney in the country to specialize in handling cases of sexual violence and gender discrimination against farmworker women.
She eventually made her way back home, and is now the president and CEO of nonprofit Justice for Migrant Women based in Fremont.
“Unfortunately, sexual violence against farmworker women is a crisis in our country,” Rámirez said. “When that first report came out in the 1980s, 90% of the women who had participated said sexual violence was a major workplace problem for them.”…