USAID awarded $5 million to a team of eight institutions, including WCW, to implement a program to protect one of Africa’s most important rainforests.
After more than 12 years as the Katherine Stone Kaufmann ’67 Executive Director of the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., will leave at the end of February to serve as president of the University of Liberia.
In 1976, we hosted a groundbreaking international conference on Women and Development. Today, Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., is involving women, youth, and others in efforts to combat climate change in Liberia.
During the 2024-2025 academic year, the Wellesley Centers for Women is celebrating its 50th anniversary. As we look back on 50 years of advancing gender equality, social justice, and human wellbeing, we are proud of the way we’ve shaped a better world through research and action.
In a Q&A, Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., and Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D., discuss McIntosh’s life’s work for which she is being honored.
February 21, 2023
WCW will lead the design of a social inclusion strategy to empower women and young people in the Liberian forestry sector.
WCW Executive Director Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., (back right) with attendees, presenters, and organizers of the “When You See It, TALK It!” workshop in Monrovia, Liberia, during March 2022. Photo courtesy of Layli Maparyan.
WCW recently hosted two workshops aimed at countering human trafficking in Liberia.
Hon. Cynthia Lynn Blandford, Founder and President of the UCL, (left) and WCW Executive Director Layli Maparyan (right) partnered to address human trafficking in Liberia.With funding from the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, WCW and partners are addressing human trafficking in Liberia.
September 8, 2021
Together with academic, NGO, and private sector partners, WCW will hold two workshops to address human trafficking in Liberia.
WCW Executive Director, Layli Maparyan was featured on the All in the Mind podcast to discuss Kenneth and Mamie Clark's 1940s doll experiments, and how they contributed to desegregation.
December 6, 2019
Members of the WCW community gathered at the Wellesley College Club in November 2019 to celebrate the publication of a new book by activist and changemaker Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D.
November 26, 2019
The Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley Club of Atlanta, and The Lola, a women-focused coworking space, joined together in Atlanta, GA, in November 2019 to discuss women's entrepreneurship, the gender pay gap, and work-life balance.
The Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) partnered with The Home for Little Wanderers for the inaugural Women of Color Conference held at Wellesley College in June 2018. This program—geared toward providers who work with at-risk youth and families across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts— highlighted the importance of self-care; offered opportunities for relaxation, renewal, and inspiration; and provided a context in which to view the critical work done on behalf of young women and girls of color. The conference was spearheaded by Joan Wallace- Benjamin, Ph.D., the recently retired president and CEO of The Home, one of the largest service providers in New England dedicated to ensuring the healthy behavioral, emotional, social, and educational development, and physical wellbeing of children and families living in at-risk circumstances.
An interview with Dr. Layli Maparyan.
Former Wellelsey College president Barbara Newell discusses the impact of WCW over the years.
August 6, 2018
Self care, rejuvenation, creativity, and empowerment were promoted throughout the Women of Color Conference held in partnership by WCW and The Home for Little Wanderers in June 2018 at Wellesley College.
WCW scholars research and discuss issues around society and leadership, like supports for working women, social justice, and womanism.
Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., Katherine Stone Kaufmann ’67 Executive Director of the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) and Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College, engaged with diverse youth groups in Berlin, Germany in January 2015 to discuss the meaning of Black History Month and how it can cultivate social change leadership, not only in the U.S. but also around the world. Sponsored by the U.S. Embassy Berlin, the week-long tour offered Maparyan the opportunity to deliver a lecture, “Building Cultures of Inclusion Across Race, Ethnicity, and Religion: Comparing Notes Across the U.S. and Germany and Cultivating Social Change Leadership,” and engage in discussions with students and faculty of the John F. Kennedy Institute at the Free University; at University of Stuttgart; and at Freiburg University. Within the framework of the “womanism” praxis, Maparyan outlined non-oppositional problem-solving tools and illustrated how simple, personal acts can create amity and inclusion from the personal all the way up to the institutional level. In Bonn, Maparyan presented “A Womanist Perspective on Development” at the University of Bonn/ZEF, and “Building Cultures of Inclusion across Race, Ethnicity, and Religion: Comparing Notes across the U.S. and Germany and Cultivating Social Change Leadership” at Bonn University. Her trip concluded with Black History Month: A Storytelling Evening at Jugendkirche and a community meeting at the Anne Frank Educational Centre.
Research & Action Report,Spring/Summer 2015
Remembering Beijing: Reflections on the 20th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration / Platform for Action and CSW59
This year we commemorate the 20th anniversary of an important milestone in the history of the global women’s movement: The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA). The BPfA was the outcome document of the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing, China, in September, 1995, along with the parallel NGO Forum in Huairou, China. The U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women represented the culmination of two decades of international women’s mobilizations (in Mexico City, Copenhagen, and Nairobi) and announced the formation of a truly global women’s movement. The Beijing/Huairou events were attended by over 50,000 people. Thus, this 20th anniversary is an important time of both celebration and reflection, not only for those who attended the events, but also for all those who care about and work on the issues enshrined in the BPfA.
Research & Action Report Fall/Winter 2013
Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., WCW executive director, visited Cape Verde July 26-August 2, 2013 with a Wellesley College delegation charged with building connections in the West African island nation. Maparyan had the opportunity to visit the Centro de Investigação em Género e Família (CIGEF), a sister research institute housed at the University of Cape Verde and headed by Dr. Clementina Furtado, where she discussed the possibility of future collaborative ventures. At the invitation of the U.S. Ambassador to Cape Verde, Adrienne O’Neal, and with her Wellesley College colleagues, Maparyan was privileged to attend the formal signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Department of State and Cape Verde to address gender-based violence in Cape Verde.
For immediate release: March 4, 2014
Wellesley-Cabo Verde Convening
The Centre for Research and Training in (CIGEF) and the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) held a joint conference, Gender, Social Justice, and Women’s Empowerment, in Cabo Verde in February. Vanessa Britto, M.D., Wellesley College Medical Director; LaShawnda Lindsay, Ph.D., WCW research scientist; Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., the Katherine Stone Kaufmann ’67 Executive Director of WCW; and Linda M. Williams, Ph.D., WCW senior research scientist, were among the presenters. Attended by government officials, UN officers, academics, students, and representatives of numerous community organizations and NGOs, the conference symbolized the cementing of a partnership that has been growing since 2013. “Our joint conference reflected an important effort to work across the language barrier to share research and best practices related to issues facing women and girls worldwide,” Maparyan said. “Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from Cabo Verde, the U.S., and other countries came together to learn together, converse about strategies, and build new working relationships.”
Research & Action Report Spring/Summer 2014
The 58th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW) was held this past winter, but the work continues. After two weeks devoted to the assessment of whether the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are working for women and girls and trying to figure out what the post-2015 development agenda is going to look like, one thing is clear: We aren’t going to make real progress without good data.
The Feminist Wire, April 7, 2014
by Layli Maparyan and AnaLouise Keating
For Immediate Release: November 30, 2012
Wicked Local Wellesley September 29, 2012Research & Action Report, Spring/Summer 2012
Wellesley College President H. Kim Bottomly announced on April 23, 2012, the appointment of Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., as the new Katherine Stone Kaufmann ’67 Executive Director of the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), one of the nation’s largest and most influential organizations conducting scholarly research and developing action programs centered on women’s and girls’ perspectives. Maparyan will assume her new responsibilities effective July 1, 2012.
April 23, 2012
Wellesley College President H. Kim Bottomly announced the appointment of Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., as the new Katherine Stone Kaufmann ’67 Executive Director of the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), one of the nation’s largest and most influential organizations conducting scholarly research and developing action programs centered on women’s and girls’ perspectives.
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