Caroline Moser facts for kids

Caroline Olivia Nonesi Moser is a smart academic who studies how people live in cities and how governments can help them. She is famous for doing research directly in communities, especially about things like poverty, violence, and how people earn money in cities.

A big part of her work is looking at how gender (meaning the differences between men and women in society) affects these issues. She has studied many countries, but she is most interested in places in North and South America, like Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Jamaica.

She also researches how communities can get involved in their own development, how economic changes affect people, and how cities can deal with climate change.

Education

Professor Moser earned her Ph.D. from Sussex University in 1975. Before that, she got a postgraduate diploma from Manchester University in 1968 and a bachelor's degree from Durham University in 1967.

Career

Caroline Moser has worked at many important places throughout her career:

• University College London (1978–1986)
• London School of Economics (1986–1990)
• The World Bank (1990–2000)
• The Overseas Development Institute (2001–2002)
• The New School in New York (2002–2003)
• Brookings Institution (2004–2007)
• The University of Manchester (2007–present)

She currently teaches and does research at the Global Urban Research Centre at the University of Manchester.

Moser created something called the Moser Gender Planning Framework. This is a special tool used to understand how gender affects development plans. Its main goal is to help women become more equal and powerful in society. The framework has six steps to help people analyze what is needed and create plans that work for everyone.

Gender and Planning Framework

One of Caroline Moser's most important ideas is found in her work, "Gender Planning in the Third World: Meeting Practical and Strategic Gender Needs." Her studies helped her create a way to plan for gender in developing countries.

Her main idea is that men and women have different needs. Because of these different needs, they require different plans to help them. She focused a lot on women in her studies. She wanted to improve plans based on women's specific gender needs.

Moser believes that when planning for women, policy makers should think about gender roles, not just that they are women. She supports the idea that simply treating women as one group isn't helpful. This is because it ignores the social relationships between genders. Since men and women often have different roles in society, she argues they need different kinds of support and planning.

The Triple Role of Women

In her paper, Moser introduced the idea of "the triple role of women." She says that women in low-income homes often have three main jobs:

• Reproductive work: This means taking care of children and the household.
• Community managing: This involves women organizing and keeping the community together. However, Moser notes that in this role, women often accept how society is structured and can't change much.
• Productive work: This is work that earns money, like a job.

In contrast, Moser describes men as mainly productive workers who often take on community leadership roles.

Moser believes that because men and women have such different roles, policy makers should consider each role carefully. She argues that women's roles (like productive work and community management) are often seen as "natural." Because of this, they are often ignored in planning. She feels that men's roles as "breadwinners" and leaders are often praised. But the equally important roles of women are forgotten because they are seen as just domestic or natural.

Different Household Structures

Moser also points out a problem with how many development models view families. She says they often only think about the traditional Nuclear family (mother, father, and children). This model forgets about other types of households. For example, it doesn't consider homes led by single women or those where men are temporarily away.

Moser notes that "women-headed" households are becoming more common. However, she says these women often struggle to find good jobs and achieve the same success as men. She believes this is because of their "triple role." These women have to fulfill all their roles. This means they often don't have the time or access to benefit from special programs or help.

Strategic and Practical Needs

Moser suggests that solutions must focus on the specific needs of each gender. She divides these needs into two types:

• Strategic needs: These are about achieving true gender equality for both men and women.
• Practical needs: These are things that are directly important to women's daily lives.

Moser specifically talks about needs related to jobs, housing, and basic services. She thinks that women should be taught jobs that are usually done by men. By helping women enter these fields, it could create more opportunities for them to earn money. It might also help reduce the divide between men and women in the workplace.

Her framework also suggests making home-based businesses legal. This would allow women who need to stay home to still earn money. Lastly, Moser argues for public transportation that is only for women. Her point is that a female-only transport system would help women feel safe when they need to travel for errands or other needs outside the house.

Contributions

Caroline Moser's ideas have had a big impact on discussions about how to create a more equal society. Other experts have used her "Gender Planning in the Third World" framework as a main idea for their own research.

For example, anthropologists Fenella Porter and Caroline Sweetman were inspired by Moser. They explained how to use "gender mainstreaming" to raise awareness. They added to Moser's framework by suggesting education about the often-forgotten domestic roles of women. Like Moser, their work highlights how important it is to understand the different roles of both genders and how these roles affect their economic situation.

Because Moser is known as a feminist, some people mistakenly think she only focuses on women in her work. However, some of her ideas benefit both genders. Her gender and planning framework specifically looks at women's roles and how to create policies for their needs. On the other hand, her work on violence includes both men and women. This "violence framework" aims to protect everyone from the negative effects of inequality that can lead to brutality.

The only part of her violence framework that treats genders separately is her call for changes in social violence. Other types of violence affect both genders. But social violence often shows men as the ones causing harm and women as the victims. Moser is very interested in creating equality for everyone in society.

Works

• Moser, C. (1993) Gender Planning and Development: Theory, Practice and Training, New York and London, Routledge.