Betsabé Espinal

Betsabé Espinal (born in 1896, Bello, Colombia - November 16, 1932 in Medellín), also erroneously known as Betsabé Espinosa or Espinoza,[1] was a Colombian labor rights activist and leader of a 1920 workers' strike against a fabric factory in Bello, Colombia. Although not the first strike in Colombian history, it was the first strike led by women.[2] The strike was considered to have made a significant impact on the rights of female workers thereafter.

Betsabé Espinal
Born1896
Died(1932-11-16)November 16, 1932
Medellín
NationalityColombian
Other namesEspinosa, Espinoza
ParentCelsa Espinal

There are few details about her life before and after the strike. A school in Barranquilla, Colombia was named after her called I.E.D. Betsabé Espinosa.

1920 strike

The 1920 Bello strike was the first strike in Colombia with the official label of huelga ("strike", as opposed to the word paro used in previous strikes).[3] Prior to the strike, female laborers as young as eight years old worked at the factory, a typical work day was over 12 hours,[4] and the women were forced to work barefoot.[5] With Espinal as the leader, over 400 weavers stopped working.[6] The strike lasted from February 12 to March 4 and ended when the owner of the fabric factory agreed to a 40% increase in salary, the expulsion of male foremen who were accused of sexual harassment of the female workers, and a nine hour workday.[7] The parish priest of Bello and the archbishop of Medellín acted as mediators for the deal.[2]

During the time of the strike, several liberal and socialist newspapers wrote about and interviewed Espinal extensively, turning her into a symbolic figure of the working woman.[8]

The owner of the fabric factory, Emilio Restrepo Callejas,[4] fired several workers as a result of the strike, including Betsabé.[9]

After the strike

In 1929, following the example in Bello, the 186 workers of the Rosellón Factory of Envigado went on a strike for higher wages and the expulsion of certain abusive administrators.

After the strike in Bello, Espinal moved to Medellín to seek work. She died at 36 years old from accidental electrocution.

References
  1. Londoño Vega, Patricia. La vida de las antioqueñas, 1890-1940.
  2. Acevedo Cardona, Darío. "Betsabé Espinoza". Semana. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  3. Aricapa, Ricardo. "Betsabé Espinal, pionera de la lucha de las mujeres por derechos laborales". Desde Abajo. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  4. Spitaletta, Reinaldo (9 July 2013). "Aquella huelga de señoritas". El Espectador. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  5. Chacartegui, Consuelo; Cuentas, Sara; Ruiz, Ana Rosa; Blandón, María Eugenia (29 September 2014). El paper de la dona. Publicacions Universitat Rovira i Virgili. p. 55. ISBN 978-84-697-0515-5.
  6. Gil Congote, Lina Marcela (11 May 2016). Psicología trabajo e individuación. Editorial San Pablo. p. 153. ISBN 978-958-768-371-4.
  7. Wills Obregón, María Emma (2007). Inclusión sin representación: la irrupción política de las mujeres en Colombia (1970-2000). Editorial Norma. p. 98. ISBN 978-958-45-0236-0.
  8. Peloso, Vincent C. (2003). Work, Protest, and Identity in Twentieth-century Latin America. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-8420-2927-8.
  9. Farnsworth-Alvear, Ann (17 March 2000). Dulcinea in the Factory: Myths, Morals, Men, and Women in Colombia's Industrial Experiment, 1905–1960. Duke University Press. pp. 97. ISBN 0-8223-2497-0.
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