Articles & Letters
 
Taking Your Daughter to Work? Be Ready for Debate
Tim Donahue, Gannett Suburban Newspapers, April 27, 1995

When the national Take Your Daughters to Work Day is celebrated today at the Lillian Vernon Corp. in New Rochelle, it will be a co-ed affair.

"There will be some boys here," said David Hochberg, vice president of public affairs. "We are an equal opportunity employer and encourager."

The very program started in 1993 by the Ms. Foundation in Manhattan to counteract discrimination against young girls and women has been labeled recently as discriminatory by some critics. Critics say the girls-only approach robs boys of the opportunity to see their mothers and fathers in action at work and deprives young minority males of the chance to see the strides their fathers have made in the workplace.

Lillian Vernon, a direct mail-order and wholesale gift products company, is one of many companies throughout New York's northern suburbs and the nation that have broadened the original intent of the educational effort, which is expected to involve between 5 million and 7 million girls today. Other companies are billing the event Take Your Children to Work Day.

"On the surface, this looks like a very good program," said Anthony Nazzaro, a Dobbs Ferry resident and a member of Americans for Gender Equality, which planned a protest today outside Ms. Foundation headquarters on Wall Street. "But it's almost like saying, 'Is it okay to discriminate against any class for one day?'" Nazzaro said. They're denying boys that same career experience."

However, a spokeswoman for the Ms. Foundation says allowing boys to come along to workplaces would steal the thunder from an effort intended to bolster girls' self-esteem and show them what career opportunities are available to women. "Boys have been socialized that they will work. They have role models at the top of every profession." Jill Savitt said. "This is something special for daughters."

A "vocal minority" of critics, Savitt said, are overlooking the fact that at ages 9 to 15 girls start to feel societal pressure to base a great deal of their self-worth on their physical attractiveness.

"We want them to see that there are women who have done incredible things in the workplace," she said.

Tambrands in White Plains, a manufacturer of feminine hygiene products, agrees.

"Our position is that it really should be a special day for girls and young women," said Kevin Paradise, vice president of human resources. "For us, it's really natural, because our consumer base is really young women and girls."

But at IBM in Armonk, spokesman Thomas Beermann said boys would be allowed along today.

"We think it's important for young people of both sexes to have role models, and so we don't want to exclude anyone," Beermann said.

William Picker, a clinical psychologist in Tarrytown and Rye Brook who works with adolescents and adults, said he did not agree with Savitt's fear that boys would dominate girls during the day's events.

But, Picker added, "The message that girls belong in the office will get lost...I think there really is value in having a bring-your-daughters-to-work day."

While it is questionable whether boys need as much affirmation of their career prospects, Picker said, one solution to the debate would be to have a separate career day just for boys. 

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