Joyce Butler Project
The National Woman's MP: Joyce Butler, women’s rights and women’s liberation from the 1950s to the 1970s
About the Project
In March 2025, we began an exciting AHRC funded heritage project in partnership with the University of Oxford and led by Dr Lyndsey Jenkins, of Mansfield College.
This project examines the life and work of councillor, alderman and MP Joyce Butler (1910-1992), especially her efforts to tackle sex discrimination in education, training and employment.
Mapping the connections between women in different kinds of politics - national and local, parliamentary and grassroots, formal and informal – the project asks how, when, and with what effects did women shape British politics in this period?
To contact the project team directly, email butler.project@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
Who was Joyce Butler?
Joyce Butler was the MP for Wood Green between 1955 and 1979. Born in Birmingham, she grew up in a Quaker household, and as a young woman, was involved in campaigns for peace after the First World War.
She moved to London with her husband Vic when he was appointed as an organiser for the co-operative party. She began her career in local government, and was a local councillor, mayor, and leader of the council before being elected to Parliament. She was the first chairman of the new London borough of Haringey when it was formed in 1965. Vic Butler was also a longserving local councillor.
Joyce Butler was a champion of women’s rights in Parliament throughout her career. From the late 1960s, she worked tirelessly to combat discrimination against girls and women in education and employment. These efforts eventually led to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.
This was only one of her many political interests. She was hugely interested in consumer rights and protections: especially through clearer labelling of ingredients in food and consumer goods. She also spearheaded a national campaign to improve cervical cancer screening across Britain, and supported those who developed cancer through exposure to chemicals at work. She was an expert on housing and planning policy, especially in London. She cared deeply about environmental issues and was a lifelong campaigner for peace. After her retirement, she remained active in local political issues as well as working for greater political representation of women.
Do you remember Joyce Butler? Please contact the project team with any memories or stories by emailing butler.project@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
Joyce Butler at the inaugural meeting of Haringey Council, 1965
Visit the Exhibition
In June 2025 we launched an exhibition celebrating the contributions Joyce Butler (1910-1992) made towards the improvement of women’s lives as Councillor and MP for Wood Green from 1947 to 1979.
The exhibition is open to the public and free to visit during museum opening hours (Wednesdays to Sundays, 1pm to 5pm).
We are currently developing a portable version of the exhibition which can be loaned out. Please contact us if you would like to borrow this or find out more by emailing butler.project@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
Go to our current exhibitions page to find out more
Come to Events
Upcoming Events
Women's History Month (March) is on the horizon and there's lots of FREE activities to get involved in at Bruce Castle Museum & Archive as part of the Joyce Butler Project. Follow the links below to find out more.
Highlight Gallery Talk: What's A 'Women's Issue'?
Highlight Gallery Talk: Letters from the Archive
Evening Talk: Campaigning for Jobs in 1980s Britain - Haringey Women's Employment Project
Some highlights from past events
Explore the Archive
The archive collection is currently being catalogued and will be made available for public consultation when this process is complete.
We’ve welcomed students on work experience placements throughout the project. Read some of their reflections here:
Stories from Women at Work
‘I don’t even think you could imagine the world I grew up in….that world there was such optimism in it,’
Zena, public servant
As part of the Joyce Butler project, Dr Lyndsey Jenkins has been interviewing women about their experiences of paid work during the period when Joyce Butler was campaigning for women’s rights at work.
These stories will form a new and exciting part of the archive collection, so that people can learn about the history of work in our community through women’s own words.
If you are a woman over the age of 65, who lived or worked in Haringey or its neighbouring boroughs at any time in the 1960s and 1970s, please get in touch to share your story. Email butler.project@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
I couldn’t be a driver because I wasn’t big enough – and this was something I felt was there to keep women out
The pay structures were the same for men and women, you know, completely equal – so it didn’t matter what gender you were: what mattered is that you could do the job
I was the only woman in a male workforce and that continued for almost all of my software career
I would have been an awful housewife,
if that was all I was doing