A century ago UK Law
honor graduate Lena Phillips worked on the front lines of women's push for
equality. She called for "equal
opportunities with the men and equal pay.
We do not ask for the privileges of women and the rights of
men."
Lena Madesin Phillips
made history in 1917 becoming the first woman to earn a UK law degree. Phillips grew up in Nicholasville, Kentucky,
where her father practiced law. She
became an accomplished musician at a young age and attended the Woman's College
of Baltimore (now Goucher College) but left due to ill health. After recovering, she entered law school at
UK and became involved in local and Kentucky politics.
Phillips’ work with
Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) took her to New York where she began
organizing businesswomen and eventually founding the National Federation of
Business and Professional Women's Clubs of the United States in 1919 and
serving as its first president. In 1930
Phillips helped found the International Federation of Business and Professional
Women becoming its first president, a position she held until 1947.
The work continues….
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| Lena Madesin Phillips "I take it that neither God nor man foreordained or foresaw that the labor of the world was to be performed by one sex." |
