Rhonda M. Williams

Rhonda Michèle Williams (January 1, 1957 – November 7, 2000) was an American professor, activist and political economist whose work combined economics with multiple other social fields including race and gender analysis, law, politics, public policy and cultural studies. She aimed to show how the examination of the roles of race and gender in economics benefitted from an inclusive approach rather than a separate and fragmented analysis in order to ensure that issues of economic inequality and discrimination were aptly addressed. Williams was also noted as being consistent in aligning her own ethics with economic analysis resulting in a legacy in the political economy of race and gender.

She worked in Economics and Afro- American Studies departments at the University of Texas at Austin, Yale University, the New School for Social Research and University of Maryland, College Park while also giving lectures at several other universities. Williams is credited for having authored and co-authored twenty-five journal articles.

She died of lung cancer on November 7, 2000.

Education Williams received a B.A in economics from Harvard University in 1978 and her Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983 with a focus in labour economics. While teaching, she also worked as a consultant for the public-school system for 9 years in Prince George's County Maryland under the county's Multicultural Teacher Education Training Institute. They found that men and white individuals had bigger shares of high wage employment, women collectively increased their share of high wage employment and black individuals showed modest growth but increased their share of serious unemployment. According to them, in pejorative discussions race was factored in but in discussions of more positive matters such as economic productivity then race seized to matter in the literature available. They argued that the aforementioned internalized a hegemonic understanding of race in their evaluations and processes and their reluctance to altering this, despite many scholars presenting gaps in their hypothesis and putting forward alternatives, had an effect in shaping what is viewed as normal in popularized opinions, political conversations and prevailing conditions and treatment. University of Maryland has the Rhonda M Williams Graduate Fellowship fund, a fund that is intended to provide financial support to students in the final year of their Bachelor of Arts or Masters of Public Policy programs at the university. The National Economic Association established The Rhonda M. Williams Doctoral Dissertation Award, an annual award given to doctoral candidates of color in recognition of outstanding dissertations in alignment with the NEA's mission of promoting economic growth among peoples of color by creating and distributing knowledge on the economic issues they face.