CYSCA Participants to Discuss ‘Women in Politics’ at NAASR
BELMONT, Mass.—The public is invited to a panel discussion on “Women in Politics and Government: Issues in Armenia and the U.S.,” on Fri., March 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), 395 Concord Ave. in Belmont. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA), the Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA), and NAASR.
Five young women from Armenia will be in Greater Boston from March 8-16 to participate in a grant program focused on women in politics and government hosted by CYSCA, and with funding support from the U.S. government’s “Open World” (OW) program, CYSCA, and its team of volunteers. The program aims to give the participants first-hand exposure to America’s democratic government and free-market system as an instrument for Americans engaged in citizens’ diplomacy. A key goal of the program is to develop leadership capability of young women in government and political organizations by engaging them with their American counterparts. Few Armenian women are in leadership positions in politics and government. Only 14 of 131 Parliament members are women.
In addition to the panelists from Armenia, the evening will feature two special guests, Massachusetts Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Rachel Kaprielian and State Representative Marjorie Decker. Kaprielian is a former Massachusetts state representative (1995-2008) and registrar of motor vehicles (2008-14). She represented portions of Cambridge and Watertown in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1995 to 2008. Marjorie Decker represents the 25th Middlesex district and has served on the Cambridge City Council since 1999.
CYSCA has designed a program of visits with various organizations and individuals in the Greater Boston area, including Harvard’s JFK School of Government, UMass Boston Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, Massachusetts League of Women Voters, Mass. Caucus of Women Legislators, State Senate and House leaders, and AIWA.
The participants will discuss their work experience in Armenia and reflect on their visit to the U.S. The program will feature Anahit Beglaryan, an attorney in the Chamber of Advocates of Armenia, defending human rights; Violetta Hovhannisyan, an expert on the Armenian Parliament committee on integration of Republic of Armenia laws with European laws; Sona Minasyan, head of the Free Democratic Political Party in Kapan; Nune Sakanyan, head of international investment programs of the city of Yerevan; Lilit Seyranyan, attorney and chief specialist in children’s rights department at Yerevan city hall; and Anna Shanazaryan, the facilitator for the group, currently the external relations coordinator for the Yerevan-based Civilitas Foundation.
For more information about this program, call (617) 489-1610 or e-mail hq@naasr.org.
