Molloy completed a Bachelor of Education at the University of British Columbia, followed by a Master of Arts in 1980, on reproduction in Marxist literature.
[1] She then earned a PhD at the University of Auckland, with a thesis titled Those who speak to the heart: kin and community among the Nova Scotians at Waipu 1850–1916.
Molloy moved to New Zealand in 1983, and joined the faculty of the University of Auckland first as a lecturer in sociology, and then in Women's Studies.
[7] Molloy wrote the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography article on Norman McLeod, the Scottish minister who led his people to settle at Waipu via Nova Scotia.
[8] She has written several other books, including a study on cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead,[9][10][11] and more recent work on globalisation and the fashion industry, in collaboration with geographer Wendy Larner.