Daughters Spend Day At Work Exploring The Possibilities Founders Of Annual Event Insist It’s For Girls Only
Millions of girls nationwide skipped school Thursday to don hard hats, doctors’ scrubs or other grown-up garb for the third annual Take Our Daughters to Work Day.
Twelve-year-old Liza Pitsirilos liked trailing her dad around a construction site in New York City because it was “busy.” Mickie Lincoln, 11, enjoyed buying supplies for West Point, saying “daughters need to be encouraged.”
Organizers made a bigger push to include girls with perhaps the least chance to realize their dreams - the disabled, poor and minorities. Although Chelsea Clinton didn’t attend, girls from public housing had breakfast at the White House. Homeless girls in Maine shadowed a pet store owner and an art professor.
But organizers were besieged with calls from irate parents asking why boys aren’t included.
“Boys and girls both need to learn about the workplace,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. She praised the idea of inspiring young women, but urged the inclusion of boys.
A growing number of companies - including Ford Motor Co., Gerber Products Co. and Chrysler Corp. - held “Take Your Children to Work” events instead.
But the Ms. Foundation For Women, the group organizing the day, isn’t swayed.
“This is a day to pay attention to girls,” said president Marie Wilson. “Girls are not very visible. If they had been, we wouldn’t need this program.”
The day was created to counter the steep loss in selfesteem documented in girls 9 to 15.
An estimated 7 million to 10 million girls joined this year, and governors in 21 states have endorsed the day. In addition, activities were planned in countries from Canada to England, Australia to Chile.
In the United States, the Oklahoma bombing cast a shadow over some events, causing worried calls to the New York-based foundation and prompting a New Jersey courthouse to shy away.
“We felt it wouldn’t be a good time to do such a thing” following the Oklahoma bombing, and due to a shortage of preparation time, said Gregory Edwards, chief administrator of the Middlesex County Court in New Brunswick, N.J. He said a few employees brought children nevertheless.
Jitters didn’t deter parents from bringing in 250 girls to the Sedgwick County Courthouse in Wichita - adjacent to the county jail housing Terry Nichols, a material witness in the bombing.
“I gave it some thought,” said secretary Glenda Roths, who brought 11-year-old daughter Amy. “But I hate the idea of running scared.”
The General Services Administration, which operates all federal buildings, said no special security measures were taken for the day.
Elsewhere, girls donned surgical masks to “treat” a newborn baby-doll at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center and wore goggles to tour a Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, Calif.
Mark Jackson, a boatbuilder in Vinalhaven, Maine, said he valued his chance to show 9-year-old daughter, Hope, his work - and her possibilities.
“It seems important to me to let women know there are other options than making babies and washing and ironing clothes for the rest of their lives,” he said.