Joyce Butler

Born in 1910 as an only child to Arthur Edward Wells and Florence Maud, Butler was educated at King Edward's High School, Birmingham. She was raised as a Quaker and worked briefly at the Society of Friend's Woodbrooke College. Butler belonged to the Labour Party and the Co-operative society and began organising for consumer causes through the Co-operative Women's Guild. == Career ==

Butler became a councillor on Wood Green Borough Council in 1947, serving until the borough's abolition in 1965. She was chairman of the Housing committee, overseeing major council efforts to construct housing post-war, and in 1954 became Leader of Wood Green Council. Butler was first elected to Parliament at the 1955 general election, for the Wood Green constituency. She served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Land and Natural Resources 1965-67 but held no front-bench position. She served as vice-chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party (1965-1970) and chairman of the Co-operative Party MPs. She also served as vice-chairman of the Labour parliamentary housing and local government group from 1959 to 1964. She retired from Parliament at the 1979 general election. == Interests ==

Butler was an active back-bencher, frequently raising questions in parliament on environmental and consumer issues. She often spoke on a range of health issues and asked the first parliamentary questions about the thalidomide drug. In 1976, she introduced a Bill to create a statutory register of all osteopaths who followed a recognized course of study. Butler's "most important achievement" was introducing the first bill to Parliament seeking to outlaw discrimination against women "in education, employment, and social and public life". She raised the Bill four times - starting in 1967 - and whilst she failed to obtain a second reading, her Bill would form the basis of the Labour Government's Sex Discrimination Act (1975). She remained committed to women's rights and during her last term in Parliament chaired a committee investigating violence against women and children. Following her retirement in 1979, she remained a leading member in a number of organisations, such as the London Passenger Action Confederation, the Fawcett Society, the Hornsey Housing Trust, and Tottenham Hotspur ladies' football team. == Personal life ==

She married Vic Butler, a Co-operative Party worker who became a councillor, the first mayor of the London Borough of Haringey and a parliamentary candidate. They had two children. ==References==