[1] She was considered an "authority"[1] and "pioneer"[2] on researching United States-Mexico border issues and had a "lifelong commitment to social justice.
[1] Villava's research focused on "the maquiladoras industry on the United States-Mexico border" and its impact on the working class.
[9] Villalva's research discovered that many of the women who were coming to work in maquiladoras or twin plants in El Paso and Juárez were from rural areas and learning to live in what was essentially a new culture was not easy.
[10] Villalva helped initiate social change through COMO, including developing union-like worker cooperatives.
[7] The COMO's classes were designed to raise "working women's consciousness" which had been discontinued by maquiladora management because those who attended became "too critical of health and safety conditions.
"[10] Many of the classes taught at COMO focused on self-improvement, such as learning English, dance, and sewing and also on community improvement, such as nutrition, psychology, family relations and responsible parenthood.
[7] Villalva was "exceptionally charismatic" and was able to act as a bridge between working women and corporate and official forms of power.
[14] COMO's impact can also be measured in the effect it had on the lives of many of the participants in the program, who were women with an average age of twenty-two.
[11] Women who participated in the improving classes had a measurable and greater sense of personal empowerment that differed greatly from the "stereotype of the ideal Mexican female" in the 1980s.
[18] In 1985, Villalva was involved with bringing attention to the press about a dangerous contamination affecting workers in a metal foundry.
[20] In 1988, Villalva was the general director of external affairs for the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef).
[21] Colef and Villava were supportive of the civil movement surrounding violence against women in Northern Mexico, especially in Juárez.