© Latinas in History 2008
Born into a family of migrant farm workers in Washington State, Mily was only seven when the family moved to Idaho. Her father found steady work on a ranch, and Mily and her siblings were able to attend school and work in the fields to contribute towards the family’s modest income. At the age of fifteen, Mily and her family moved to California. They continued to work in the fields. Familiar with the struggles and hardscrabble lives of migrant families, by 1975 Treviño was determined to work with the United Farm Workers. Her father and brother had joined the union and Mily persuaded them to let her join as well. By sixteen she had become a volunteer organizer. As a widow with a small son in 1985, Treviño's commitment to organizing led her to pursue a career in this direction. In 1988, as a graduate student at California State University, Long Beach Treviño helped conduct a survey among farm worker women. They shared the problems they faced, among them, sexual discrimination, harassment, domestic violence, pesticide poisoning, poor housing, and low wages. In 1992, while still a full-time student, she formed Líderes Campesinas, an organization of, for, and led by Mexican farm worker women to create a structure that they could use to advocate for themselves. She began organizing local Líderes branches across California. In ten years the organization has developed twenty-four chapters in California and has worked with similar groups within the United States and internationally. In 2005 Mily Saucedo-Treviño and Líderes Campesinas received an award from the Leadership in a Changing World program.
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