BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — The Jewish Argentinean federation for sports and social community centers, or FACCMA, elected for the first time a female president.

FACCMA, a Spanish acronym which stands for Argentinean Federation of Maccabiah Community Centers, is the umbrella of all of the Jewish social and sports institutions, which are Argentinean-style Jewish Community Centers, or JCCs, and is one of the main umbrella organizations in the country, with 55 JCCs affiliates and a network of 50 000 members. It is also the largest member of the Latin American branch of the Maccabi World Union.

FACCMA on Monday evening elected Monica Sucari as the head of the its sports and cultural institutions across the country “It was a huge honor that my institution, Hacoaj, nominated me as the candidate for the presidency. I hope that more women will be increasingly encouraged to participate in major roles” such as this one, Sucari told JTA just after the assembly.

Hacoaj, which translates to “the Power,” is located north of greater Buenos Aires. It is a Jewish sport and cultural club with 7,800 members

The female presence in positions of leadership at JCCs was discussed at the JCC Global World Conference, in Tarrytown, New York, in November.  “Although the objective of each of the JCCs was to meet other JCCs and associate in projects of social impact, each and every one of them was surprisingly interested in the topic of female leadership in the organizations of the Jewish community” Patricia Manusovich, who attended the global event representing Hacoaj, told JTA. Manusovich is a member of a network of JCCs worldwide that will begin to raise the issue of female leadership in Jewish organizations.

Sucari currently serves as vice president of FACCMA and has 10 years’ experience at the umbrella institution. She will serve as president of the federation until 2019 and will reinforce the role of Hacoaj at the Global JCC network to raise other women to leadership positions.

The issue of female leadership is under debate, when no woman is on the shortlist to replace the chairman of the Jewish Agency. “In an age in which the #metoo campaign is radically changing old concepts of male-female power relations, how could the American heads of the agency and its associated institutions fail to include at least one female among the six candidates they deem worthy to succeed Sharansky,” asked an editorial appearing in the Jerusalem Post on Nov. 28. 

Let’s block ads! (Why?)