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Biography

Maxine Molyneux is EmeritusÌýProfessor of Sociology.Ìý She joined Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ in 2012 as founding Director of the Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ Institute of the Americas, serving two years in that role. ÌýPrior to joining Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ in 2012 she was Professor of Sociology, and from 2008, Director of the Institute for the Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ of the Americas at the School of Advanced Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾, London University. She previously held full-time posts at the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS), University of London, the Politics and Sociology Department of Birkbeck College and the Sociology Department of Essex University from where she gained her PhD in 1983. She was awarded a CMG for services to Latin America and international development in 2023, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and an Associate Fellow of Chatham House.

Maxine Molyneux has written extensively in the fields of political sociology, gender and development, human rights and social policy, and has authored books on Latin America, and state socialism in Ethiopia and South Yemen. She has acted as a senior adviser, consultant and researcher to variousÌýagencies of the UN including UNRISD and UNIFEM/UN Women on a variety of research projects with a focus on gendered inequalities, as well as to IDRC (Canada), and Oxfam.Ìý She has undertaken and led multi-country research projects investigating the effectiveness of anti-poverty programmes for the UK’s Department for International Development, CARE International, and other development policy agencies and NGOs. The most recent research project for which she served as Research Director was a five country qualitative study of the social effects ofÌýCash Transfers, commissioned by DFIDÌýand undertaken on behalf of the Overseas Development Institute. Maxine served as the editor ofÌýPalgrave/Macmillan’sÌýStudies of the Americas Series from 2008 – 2023, and foundedÌýÂ鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ Press’sÌýModern Americas Series.ÌýShe hasÌýserved, inter alia, on the Editorial Board ofÌýEconomy and Society, was a founding editor of Feminist Review, and is an international Editor of theÌýOxford Journal of Development Studies.Ìý

Research Summary

Maxine Molyneux’s current research is on the transformations of welfare systems in Latin America, citizen participation and accountability in social protection in Latin America; and the history and politics of Latin American feminism.

Teaching Summary

Professor Molyneux is currently teaching on the Masters courses, Globalisation and Latin American Development, and Researching the Americas, and on the undergraduate Research Methods course.

Research Supervision: Professor Molyneux is currently contributing to the Masters course, the International Development of the Americas, and continues in her role as doctoral student supervisor.

Selected media appearances

• . The JHU Bologna Institute of Policy Research Three-Question series, April 2015

More staff media appearances here.

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