Ward was born in 1919. She studied history at Newnham College, an all-women's college of the University of Cambridge.^[2] She then attended the University of London, where she gained a diploma in education (a teaching qualification) in 1942.^[3] For the next five years she taught in England and West Africa.^[2] While teaching in Ghana, she became interested in social anthropology.^[3] In 1949, she completed a master's degree from the London School of Economics having studied the Ewe speaking people of Ghana.^[2]

In 1950, Ward moved to Hong Kong. She taught sociology at Chinese University of Hong Kong, rising to the rank of reader.^[4] She spent three years studying the anthropology of the Kau Sai people. She returned many times to China and wrote about the New Territories area.^[2]

During her academic career, she lectured at the University of London, Cornell University, the University of Cambridge, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.^[2]

At the end of her life she was preparing a book on the boat people of Hong Kong.^[4]

• Ward, Barbara E. (1957). The Interplay of East and West: Elements of Contrast and Co-Operation. George Allen & Unwin.
• Ward, Barbara E. (1963). Women in the new Asia: the changing social roles of men and women in South and South-east Asia. Paris: UNESCO.
• Ward, Barbara E.; Law, Joan (1982). Chinese festivals in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: China Books & Periodicals. ISBN 978-9621000026.
• Ward, Barbara E. (1985). Through Other Eyes. Hong Kong: Chinese University. ISBN 978-9622013247.
• Ward, Barbara E. (1985). "Kau Sai, an Unfinished Manuscript" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch. 25: 27–118. ISSN 1991-7295.