Take Your Child to Work Day

Acting on research that showed adolescent girls received less attention than boys, this day was initiated in 1993 by the Ms. Foundation for Women. The intention was to give girls additional direct attention and an insight into work world opportunities available to them. It was to serve the multiple purpose of increased self esteem for young girls as well as give them some ideas of the wealth of careers in the world. Thirdly, it allowed them more one-on-one time with mom or dad.

It quickly took off and became extremely popular. Girls would go off to work with mom or dad, or even an aunt or uncle. They would spend the day seeing just what their sponsors job involved. It was limited only by the practicality of allowing a youthful, non-employee in a particular job environment. It works well in office environments, but proves impractical in many blue collar jobs, or where safety can be an issue.

It’s popularity quickly sparked interest by the boys, who soon felt left out and were required to go to school for the day, while the girls “got the day off”. As a result, the day has turned into “Take Your Son or Daughter to Work Day” in many areas. While this takes away from the original intent to give more attention to adolescent girls, it has become a valuable and popular career day opportunity for girls and boys alike.

C-IMAGE researchers and students will host about 40 children from USF Employees on April 28th when we’ll show them how WE spend our work days.