Betty Tebbs, women's rights activist dies

By Okoh Lotechukwu.

 Women's rights activist, Betty Tebbs who spent her life working to empower women and fight for peace, died at age 98 on Monday, January 23rd. She was from Bury, Greater Manchester. She became involved with women's right aged 14 when she discovered the boy working with her at a paper mill was earning more for the same work.

"I was so pleased when I got my first wage until I saw the boys wage, which was two shillings more than me and yet we were doing the same work", Said Ms Tebbs.

"I couldn't understand it at all why that should be so I went and I joined the union and I've been a trade union member ever since".

Ms Tebbs went on to successfully lead women in a strike for equal pay at the mill in the early 1950s. 

Tributes are being paid to her. In tribute, Len McCluskey, unite general secretary said:

"It was a true honor to meet Betty. She was really something special, a shining light leading the way, urging us all to never give up the fight. Her life had spanned an extraordinary century for working class people. But Betty knew that the achievements we had made were never safe though. That's why she never stopped campaigning. We'll miss her energy but we celebrate having her on our side. Betty will always be one of us. She proudly carried the baton for justice. That baton has now been passed to us all. We will not let her down".

“Betty was a radical hero who worked tirelessly and with great humility to campaign for equal rights, worker's right and peace her whole life," said Janneke Geene. In recent months, she was awarded the Radical Hero Award by People's History Museum and given the special women's Award by Manchester City Council. 

Betty Tebbs, who was also a serial protestor and self-proclaimed revolutionary and who for over 80 years fought for sexual inequality to nuclear weapons and from apartheid to the poll tax, will be dearly missed.