Anyone can become color-blind (or exhibit some form of it) due to various causes (eye trauma, genetics, chronic illness, medication, etc.). If you're referring to heredity causes, color-blindless is an X-linked recessive gene. Both males and females can express the gene, but the probability of this happening is much higher in males than females since males generally have a single X chromosome which typically arise from the mother being at least a carrier. If the mother is color-blind, then her male offspring will all be color-blind. The possibility of a female being color-blind means that the father must be color-blind and the mother is at least a carrier of the gene.
