Amy Beckford Bailey, OJ, OD, MBE (27 November 1895 – 3 October 1990) was a Jamaican educator, social worker and women's rights advocate.

[1] In January 1920, Bailey began teaching at the Kingston Technical High School (KTHS),[3] when she was hired to replace her sister who was taking a three-month leave of absence.

[5] Concerned with the discrimination she saw in the class hierarchy enshrined in Jamaica at the time, Bailey wrote a series of editorials that were published in The Gleaner.

With seed money given by May’s father Arthur Farquharson, Bailey travelled to London with Una Marson[8][3] to raise funds for providing food, clothing and textbooks to Jamaican school children.

[1] She also met with proponents of family planning, and when she returned to Jamaica a birth control drive was launched[8] in 1939 with a seminar held at the Ward Theater.

[1] Leading up to the meeting, Dr. Varma, an Indian-born doctor who was residing in Jamaica, and several other prominent figures published their views on the matter in The Gleaner.

She organized, with the help of Farquharson and Judith Decordova, a charity worker, a three-month lecture tour throughout Jamaica by Edith How-Martyn, a British feminist and birth control advocate.

[10] Another initiative launched in 1938 occurred when Bailey met with Governor Edward Brandis Denham to express her concern about the limited opportunities available to black youths.

[3] In 1944, the adviser to the Comptroller for Colonial Development and Welfare for the West Indies publicly criticized Jamaican women for their lack of contribution to their nation.

Bailey took the words as a call to action and founded the Homecraft Training Centre[11] as a way to build their dignity and self-respect while teaching them skills.

[1] In 1990, a documentary on the lives of Bailey and Farquharson, their remarkable friendship, and their work for women's political and economic equality was produced by Sistren Research.