©2005 by Michelle Behl

In the summer of 1967, Olga Moya’s father received a letter from a group of farmers in North Dakota asking him and his family to hoe one hundred acres of beets for fifty dollars an acre. Fifty dollars an acre seemed like a fortune to them, so they accepted the offer. After a long journey, they arrived only to find misfortune. Olga’s father was called into a meeting room, and the farmers announced that they could only afford to pay him ten dollars an acre. After checking his wallet, Olga’s father realized that they did not have enough money to return to Texas, and since he had quit his job in Texas, they had to accept this very low-paying job. Enraged, Olga thought that there should be laws against breaking promises and vowed that she would do something about it when she grew up. Olga went on to become one of only six Mexican-American women tenured law professors in the country. She currently fights environmental injustices in Latino/a communities.1

Many successful Chicanas started working in agriculture as migrant farm workers. Their responses to agricultural hardships have always been heroic and compelling. Rather than allowing themselves to be exploited, many Chicanas have found ways to resist. Until now, their responses have gone unnoticed by many outside of Latino/a communities. Chicanas are no longer silent about their resistance to labor oppression, and a significant number are entering the business world. The recent influx of successful Chicanas is in large part due to their tireless devotion to their families and their ability to utilize resources at hand in innovative ways.

For the first time in history, Chicanas outnumber Chicanos in managerial and professional positions by 5 percent and own 28 percent of all Latino-owned firms.2 Chicanas lead in the growing number of businesses owned by minority women. In 2002, Chicanas owned five hundred thousand firms, which was a 39 percent increase from 1997. These firms employ two hundred thousand people and generate thirty billion U.S. dollars in sales each year.3 The explosive growth of the Latino population and the increasing presence of Chicanas in the business sector are felt throughout all of the United States. Their rise started in the 1600s, well before their struggles and setbacks in the U.S., which resulted from racial and gender discrimination.

Chicanas were among the earliest settlers of New Spain, part of which is today the southwestern United States. Maria Betancour founded San Antonio, the first permanent settlement in Texas, forty-five years before the American Revolution. During this time, women directly received some of the largest land grants and managed several ranches that they inherited from their fathers or husbands. They were entrepreneurs already in the 1600s: some specialized in herbal medicine or as midwives, and others grew crops and raised farm animals, which they sold to other settlers and the military. Married women under Spanish law had many more legal rights than Anglo women who lived in the United States. Chicanas had control over all property that they previously owned even after they married and shared half ownership of all the property their husbands owned. They could freely buy and sell crops, animals, and goods. There was nothing barring them from owning their own businesses or entering into contracts in their own names. They were able to exercise the right to file a lawsuit in court even if it was against their own husbands.4 Chicanas refused to give up these rights and aspirations under American law.

When the U.S. borders crossed their lands, or when they migrated north in search of a better life, Chicanas were forced to accept low-paying agricultural jobs as migrant workers. Much of the Latino legacy in the United States is tied to the struggles and experiences of migrant farm workers. Chicanas were exploited in agricultural labor as children and as adults. They worked in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. Women and children worked in the fields under the hot sun without drinking water or access to toilets—an unimaginable hardship. Olga Moya worked in the upper Midwest fields as a young girl and remembers being very embarrassed to pull down her pants in front of strangers when she could not control it anymore.5 The living conditions of the workers were worse. It was a luxury to have running water or electricity. The housing resembled tin shacks or cow barns with a sink and a showerhead. Many slept on dirt floors or on used mattresses. The Wautoma-Dakota Dumping Grounds near Wautoma, Wisconsin, was notorious for reselling discarded mattresses to migrant workers for a profit. Many laborers were paid low, unfair wages for work they performed and were taken advantage of when they could not speak English.6 These conditions placed great strains on Chicana families—as well as on the ability of Chicanas to maintain customary practices.

During these hardships, Chicanas were the threads that held the community together and ensured its survival. Chicanas made sure there was enough food by engaging in subsistence farming when they could and by caring for each other when ill or needing help. Further, women were the key component in several successful strikes that helped increase fair wages and working conditions. During a strike, they distributed food to the entire community and walked the picket lines even if they were not directly involved in the strike.7 During the grape strikes and boycotts of the late 1960s and early 1970s, women could be seen playing dual roles in Neenah, Wisconsin: holding a sign boycotting grapes in one hand while tightly grasping a baby stroller in the other. Wautoma’s Police Chief, Max Blader, ate grapes in front of the boycott picket lines and blatantly looked away from the violence the Chicanas endured. Against the defiance they faced, Chicanas continued to stand up for what they thought was right.8 Grape boycott lines were seen across the United States from California to Philadelphia. The majority of the picketers and organizers were Chicana. Chicanas such as Carolina Franco traveled across the U.S. and walked the most crucial picket lines. She walked pickets in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. Chicanas are credited with the success of the grape boycott.9 They are also credited with the success of the 1975 Tolteca Foods strike in Richmond, California. One hundred fifty workers, mostly women, held a picket line for a mere twenty-four hours before they won. Throughout the strikes, women were subject to horrific violence and to deportation.10 This type of brutality did not alter the morale or aspirations of the Chicanas.

Many Chicanas are driven by the promise of a better life for themselves and their family. While working in the fields picking tomatoes as a migrant worker, Linda Torres-Winters became determined to do more with the tomatoes than pick them. Linda enrolled in the Mi Casa Business Center for Women and went on to open her own salsa business, Lindita’s Salsa. Her salsa is sold in over five hundred stores in sixteen states. Linda is one of several hundreds of success stories since Mi Casa opened in 1990.11 Chicanas have taken advantage of the newly available resources to aid their quest for a better life for their families.

Chicanas who made it through high school were very fortunate. The nature of migrant labor and the economic hardship that forces the entire family to work has resulted in many young Latinas dropping out of school. The dropout rate for migrant students is currently between 55 and 60 percent. Most women are torn between the clash of cultures, supporting their family with an outside job and dreaming of going to school and bettering their life. Some new programs make it possible to do both. The University of South Florida’s High School Equivalency Program is a federally funded dropout program serving migrant and seasonal farm workers. The five women who are currently enrolled are all married with children and range in age from twenty-six to forty-four. They attend classes from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and never miss a day of school. Patrick Doone, who visits with the students frequently, says, “That they find the time and energy to balance their families and education is truly remarkable. These students are driven by their desire to improve the overall quality of life for their families.”12 These women are willing to improve their lives no matter the cost.

One example is Yrma Rico, who labored as a migrant worker in the Southwest as a child. She picked cotton in Texas and grapes in California’s Central Valley with her family. She worked after school, on the weekends, and during vacations. Rico’s mother taught her and her sisters they should expect to marry, have their husbands take care of them, and live a life like that of their mother, a migrant farm worker. Rico did not aspire to this type of lifestyle. She saw a chance to escape this expectation and was determined to make a different kind of life for herself. Rico is now the author of “The Latinas Guide to Success,” an investor of Entravision Communications Corporation, the owner of a BMW dealership, and mother of two businesswomen. Her rise to the top of the socioeconomic ladder did not come easily. She worked as a field worker for years before she started using her Spanish-speaking ability to her advantage. Rico first worked as a Spanish translator in a dentist’s office and then went on to work as an interpreter in Las Vegas. She was a Latino spokeswoman for the UnivisionSIN television station and made it a household name. From there she made the sky the limit. She uses her position as a successful Latina to inspire, encourage, and convince Latinas that they too can succeed.13

Another woman who uses her position to inspire Chicanas is Dolores Huerta. After teaching elementary school to migrant children and seeing the condition in which they came to class, she made it her life’s mission to help fight the injustices forced upon migrant farm workers. Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers Union in 1962. She is an advocate for women’s involvement and strength. She bears the motto “Behind Every Successful Woman Is Herself.” She has said, “Women are made to think ‘I can’t have it all.’ I have eleven kids. I hope to prove them wrong.”14 Even in the worst situations, Huerta made something good come out of it. After handing out the UFW grape boycott press release in 1970, the San Francisco Police Department riot police beat her until she had to undergo emergency surgery to remove a ruptured spleen and repair six broken ribs. She sued the city and forced them to change their crowd control methods.15 Her response to this situation was proactive and helped save others from suffering the same abuse.

Chicanas have united as a group to address and educate each other about issues such as poor working and living conditions, sexual harassment, and discrimination faced while on the job. The first Statewide Female Farm Workers Conference was held in Fresno, California, in July of 1993. At this conference, Chicanas discussed low salaries, lack of drinking water, bathrooms and hygiene products in the field. They also educated the women on how to confront and deal with these issues. Also during the conference, they held a domestic violence workshop to teach Chicanas how to stop the violence and how to teach their daughters to break the cycle.16 The conference presented more than one way for women to better their own lives and the lives of their daughters.

The influx of successful Chicanas has not undermined a shared sense of familial responsibility. Many businesses are still family affairs, and some even celebrate family. For example, the Robledo Family Winery in California is one of the few wineries with a traditional Latino name. Mr. Robledo emigrated from central Mexico and worked as a migrant farm worker picking grapes before creating the winery. Opened in October of 2003, the winery’s success and survival depends on the effort of the entire family. All nine children take part in making the winery successful. The oldest daughter, Lorena, takes care of the crushing of the grapes and the bottling. At age twenty-six, Vanessa Robledo is the youngest female president of a California winery. Vanessa grew up watching her father struggle and overcome challenges, and she uses those experiences as a lesson in overcoming challenges.17 Chicanas are no strangers to challenge; they have faced racial and gender hardships since they arrived in the United States.

Olga Moya became a law professor out of determination to change agricultural injustices her family faced and prevent the Latino community from facing more of the same injustices. Many Chicanas have traveled the same path, starting in the field. Chicanas have overcome great challenges to get where they are today. They possess an incredible strength, courage, and desire to create a better life for themselves, their family, and their community. Their sacrifices are truly amazing and awe-inspiring. Chicanas have supported their communities and culture for centuries. Their actions and ability to utilize new resources over the past forty years have put them on the map and have forced Anglos to take notice. Their stories and their lives offer a glimpse of the brave new world that is coming into being in the twenty-first century.

1. Adalyn Hixson, “HO Perspective: Olga Moya; Tenured Latina Law Professor of Mixed Emotions and Toxic Torts,” The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education 8, no. 20 (5 June 1998): 22.
2. Richard-Abraham Rugnao, “Businesswomen: Changing the Face of Business,” Saludos, http://www.saludos.com/cguide/wguide.html.
3. “Statistics,” United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, http://www.ushcc.com/res-statistics.html.
4. !Adelante Mujeres!: A History of Mexican-American/Chicana Women (Produced and distributed by the National Women’s History Project, 1992).
5. Hixson, “HO Perspective,” 22.
6. Jesus Salas and David Giffy, Struggle for Justice: The Migrant Farm Worker Labor Movement in Wisconsin (Milwaukee: Wisconsin Labor History Society, 1998).
7. Vicki L. Ruiz, From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 72-98.
8. Salas and Giffy, Struggle for Justice .
9. Margaret Rose, “Woman power will stop those grapes: Chicana organizers and middle-class female supporters in the Farm Workers’ Grape Boycott in Philadelphia, 1969-1970,” Journal of Women’s History 7, no. 4 (Winter 1995): 6-22.
10. Elizabeth Martinez, ed., Viva La Causa: 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures: The Complete Teaching Kit (Albuquerque: Southwest Organizing Project, 1991).
11. “Mi Casa to celebrate 10-year anniversary of the Business Center for Women,” La Voz ( Denver) 27, no. 12 (28 March 2001): 2.
12. Patrick Doone, “Punto Final! Migrant Students Need Access, Have Aspirations,” The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education 13, no. 22 ( 11 August 2003): 52.
13. Holly O. Rizzo, “Yrma Rico: Living Fearlessly, Living Passionately, Living Richly,” Hispanic Trends (September 2004): 38.
14. Lu Herrera, “For the Sake of Good,” Hispanic 16, no. 5 (May 2003): 28-29.
15. Lalo Lopez, “ Si Se Puede,” Hispanic 9, no. 8 (August 1996): 41.
16. Eduardo Stanely, “Female Farmworkers Raise Issues,” El Sol Del Valle ( Sanger, Calif.) no. 138 (11 August 1993), 1.
17. “Toast of the Town, The Robledo Family Winery,” Hispanics Today (Produced by the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 2004), Episode 320.

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