Barbara Y. Phillips

Writer, Activist, and Independent Scholar
Barbara

Member, WLP Board of Directors

Phillips (USA) is a social justice feminist activist and independent scholar. She was a law professor and a civil rights lawyer before serving as the program officer responsible for the women’s rights portfolio in the Peace and Social Justice Program of the Ford Foundation. Phillips is a board member of the African Women’s Development Fund USA—a sister-foundation to the African Women’s Development Fund in Accra—and of Mississippi Votes, a new NGO committed to advancing democracy in the U.S. Her publications include three essays, “How I Became a Civil Rights Lawyer”, “The Legacy of Other Social Justice Movements”,  and “The Trojan Horse Called ‘Diversity’” in Voices of Civil Rights Lawyers: Reflections from the Deep South 1964-1980, ed., Kent Spriggs (University Press of Florida 2017); “How a Targeted Triggering Approach Can Repair the Voting Rights Act,” Mississippi Law Journal Symposium on the Voting Rights Act (Spring 2017) (co-author); “Reflections: Philanthropy and Social Justice Feminism,” Freedom Center Journal 1, 47 (Fall 2014); Dignity and Human Rights: The Missing Dialogue (2011 Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, New Delhi); “The Road Traveled, The Road Ahead: Ford Foundation Support for Women’s Rights” in Women, Philanthropy and Social Change: Journey To a Just Society, ed. Elayne Clift (UPNE Press 2005); and numerous other articles in academic journals about democracy.

Authored Content

We Didn't Come This Far To Come This Far

On June 4, 2020-WLP held its first virtual Transnational Partners Convening (TPC) bringing together WLP partners and Board Members to discuss the state of the partnership, and the overview of global challenges and emerging trends. The following is a statement that was shared by Barbara Phillips; WLP Board Member during the meeting.