Coronavirus and the 2020 National Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day Event
Many people are seeking at-home activities to do on Thursday, April 23, 2020. Here are some ideas from our foundation's publicist, Michelle Tennant Nicholson. You can also download this grade school or teen and young adult booklet for at-home activity ideas from award-winning movie director and author, Barnet Bain. Share your success on your favorite social media and tag: #TODASTW, #WorkplaceSuperstars, #SparklingAhaMoments and #TakeOurDaughtersAndSonsToWork.
Welcome to the Parent/Mentor's Toolkit! This section was designed to provide you with resources to organize a successful event or gain the most out of your participation. You will find planning tips to assist you in preparing yourself and daughter, son, or relative for the event; a checklist of things you may want to do leading up to the Day; an Excused Absence Sample, for communication with your daughter’s, son’s, or relative’s school; sample days to provide you with ideas to implement the program if you are a stay-at-home parent or have your own business.
Focus on Work Family Integration
Most people/families experience the "catch-22" of work and family life: when we're home cooking dinner, we're worried about what we didn't get done at work. On the job, we worry about spending enough time with our families. This is the reality for most working adults today, and the worries are even greater for families working multiple, low-wage jobs just to make ends meet. Yet, girls and boys want and envision a future in which they are able to be involved in all parts of their lives.
In fact, 81% of girls and almost 60% of boys said they will reduce their work hours when they have children (Ask the Children: Youth and Employment study conducted by Families and Work Institute.) We are already starting to see this shift in thinking about work and family in GenXers.
In a national survey, 82% of men ages 21-39 rated "having a work schedule which allows me to spend time with my family", as "very important" (Life's Work; Radcliffe Public Policy Center/Harris Interactive 2000). Similarly, nearly 80% of men and women ages 24-34 said that time with family was more important than earning a higher salary (according to a recent Harris poll).
Yet our (Roper ASW) research found society believes it's generally more acceptable for men to choose work over family. And hold women more responsible for taking care of the family. Most Americans believe it is generally more acceptable for men to choose putting in overtime at the office (56%), even if it means being away from the family. Most Americans believe it is more acceptable for women to choose to give up a career to stay home and care for family (73%).
Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work is an opportunity to broaden the conversation about family and work and make children's voices heard. The program encourages girls and boys to share their ideas about the workplace of the future with the companies that will someday employ them. Once again, we believe that children's voices will spark change in the workplace and for A New Generation at Work.
Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day is a national day that gives children in the United States a glimpse into the working world. Developed by the Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization, the day revolves around parents taking their children to work to expose students to future job possibilities and the value of education. It is the successor to Take Our Daughters To Work Day, which was expanded to include boys in 2003. In the U.S., it occurs on the fourth Thursday in April and onward every year.
The most recent Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day occurred on Thursday, April 25, 2019. In the previous event of 2018, more than 37 million Americans at over 3.5 million workplaces participated.
History
Take Our Daughters To Work Day was created in New York City in the summer of 1992 by the Ms. Foundation for Women and its president, Marie C. Wilson, the Women's foundation treasurer, Ms. Daren Ball, and with support from foundation founder Gloria Steinem. The first celebration took place on April 22, 1993, and has since been celebrated on the fourth Thursday of April in order for the 37 million children, parents, schools in over 3.5 million workplaces across the country, in addition to participants in over 200 countries around the world, to plan ahead for the annual event. The day has generally been scheduled on a day that is a school day for most children in the United States, and schools are provided with literature and encouraged to promote the program. Educators are provided with materials for incorporating career exploration into school curricula on the day before or after the event.
The program was officially expanded in 2003 to include boys; however, most companies that participated in the program had, since the beginning, allowed both boys and girls to participate, usually renaming it "Take Our Children to Work Day" or an equivalent. The program's official website states that the program was changed in order to provide both boys and girls with opportunities to explore careers at an age when they are more flexible in terms of gender roles. The Ms. Foundation also states that men who have hosted children have benefited from being seen as parental figures in addition to their roles as professionals, which can contribute to combating gender stereotypes as well.
Prior to the inclusion of boys, the Ms. Foundation contended that the program was designed to specifically address self-esteem issues unique to girls and initially resisted pressure to include boys. Much of this pressure came from educators who did not wish to include the event in their curriculum given that their male students were not encouraged to participate.
In 2007, upon becoming its own separate foundation, the Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work program was turned over to Carolyn McKecuen, a MacArthur Genius Award recipient, who took effective control as its Executive Director before relocated to Elizabeth City, North Carolina where it has remained since. Gloria Steinem continues to maintain a role with the Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Foundation as a member of its board of directors.
Employees across the United States and around the world typically invite their own children or relatives to join them at work, but the program particularly encourages employees to invite children from residential programs or shelters who may not be exposed to many adults in skilled professions today.
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