Rickey Gard Diamond

Now a Ms. Magazine columnist, Rickey began learning about economic systems as a single mom on welfare. She edited a newspaper on poverty issues while getting an education, and in 1985, became founding editor of Vermont Woman, where she continued as a contributing editor for 34 years. She taught writing and literature at Vermont College for over 20 years, publishing fiction and non-fiction. Her novel Second Sight, and her short story collection, Whole Worlds Could Pass Away, include class, gender, and money troubles.

To make economics a friendlier subject for women, she translated masculine obfuscation in a talk, “Economics is Greek to Me,” at the March 2008 Summit for Economic Justice sponsored by the National Organization for Women, The Institute for Women's Policy Research, and the Council of American Negro Women. After 2008’s crash, she designed seminars combining literature, language and economics; her research led to a series of articles that won a 2012 National Newspaper Award for in-depth investigative reporting, citing her “atypical sources”—mostly women, she noted.

Accepted for a writing residency at Hedgebrook, she worked on a new story-based feminist economic primer, including cartoons illustrated by Peaco Todd. She wondered why money, race, and sex seemed intertwined, with billionaires mostly white males, and the poorest most often women of color. The resulting book, Screwnomics: How the Economy Works Against Women and Real Ways to Make Lasting Change, was published by SheWritesPress in 2018, and won the Independent Book Publishers Award Silver Medal in 2019 for Women’s Issues. Screwnomics’ workbook, Where Can I Get Some Change? prompts women’s local conversations and is available as a free PDF at www.screwnomics.org. Her Ms. column, Women Unscrewing Screwnomics, focuses on women making change in a field exclusively male until fairly recently.. She welcomes your stories, questions, and insights for her column and her blog. Contact her at websites below.

Facebook > @rickeygarddiamond
Instagram > @rickeygarddiamond
Twitter > @RickeyGDiamond

Websites:
www.screwnomics.org
www.aneconomyofourown.org

Meet More Board Members