Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day

Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational program in the United States, Canada and Australia that revolves around parents taking their children to work for one day. 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 every year; in the Canadian province of Ontario, it occurs on the 1st Wednesday of November. In Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane Australia it occurs on January 5, just after Christmas Break.

Take Our Daughters To Work Day was created in New York 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 22nd, 1993 and has since been celebrated on the fourth Thursday in April every year 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.

In 2000, when asked by the Minneapolis Star Tribune which activities he would propose for a national day for boys equivalent to Take Our Daughters to Work day, author Robert Bly suggested that fathers take their sons to the library and show them the books they love. Noting that women have often been excluded from the work world, Bly said, "I think it's just as likely now that men will be shut out of the inward world, the literature world."

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.

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