Daughters come to work today, sons come next year
Program organizers mark 10th anniversary by inviting boys
By Sam Eaton
Staff Reporter

Starting next year, boys will get to punch the clock, too.

After a decade of successfully promoting “Take Our Daughters To Work Day,” organizers said Tuesday they will open the annual event to sons as well.

At TCU, the program already welcomed both sons and daughters to join their parents at work, said Joanne Green, an associate political science professor.

Today will be the 10th and final daughters-only day. In April 2003, the Ms. Foundation for Women will promote “Take Our Daughters & Sons To Work Day.”

“It’s a work in progress in terms of the details, but not in terms of the aim, which is creating truly equitable workplaces,” Marie Wilson, the foundation president, said Tuesday.

She said the new initiative, like its predecessor, would highlight career opportunities, but also would include a new emphasis on the challenges of balancing work and family. Background materials for the program will be distributed to businesses and schools this fall.

Begun in 1993, “Take Our Daughters To Work Day” caught on in many communities, often with the backing of employers, civic leaders and school officials. Millions of families have participated, and the program has been praised for expanding the career aspirations of many girls.

Jeff Roet, a geography lecturer, said his daughter was too young to come with him to work, but that the program seemed like it would be useful to both sons and daughters.

“My daughter is only two, but I look forward to when we can participate,” Roet said. “I think it’s great if you can take your son or your daughter to work.”

Green said she had taken her now 9-year-old daughter to work in the past, but this year school conflicted.

Despite its success, “Take Our Daughters To Work Day” encountered occasional opposition. One conservative group, the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, called it a “stealth feminist holiday that breeds victimology in girls.”

Officials in Fostoria, Ohio, disavowed the April event two years ago, and instead encouraged both boys and girls to join their parents at work on a weekday after school recessed for the summer.

In California, a man filed a civil rights suit last month against the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors for its support of “Take Our Daughters to Work Day,” saying the event discriminates against boys.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Sam Eaton
s.m.eaton@studen.tcu.edu

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002