THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 28, 1995 TAG: 9504280529
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Even the young participants of the third annual Take Your Daughter to Work Day disagreed over its purpose.
``It's an opportunity for boys to learn what nurses and doctors do just as well as the girls,'' said 10-year-old Meredith Wilhelm, who accompanied her mother Cheryl, a nurse in orthopedics, to Sentara-Leigh Hospital on Thursday.
``I think they should have a different day because the boys don't need to learn how to be working women,'' countered her 11-year-old companion, Sara Billari.
Wilhelm and Billari succinctly summarized the controversy behind the national event, which is intended to build self-esteem among girls between ages 9 and 14 by visiting women at work. The event draws an estimated 5 million to 7 million girls into offices, airports, labs and newsrooms across the country.
Sponsored by the Ms. Foundation, the day has turned into an informal field trip for girls and boys in Hampton Roads and elsewhere. Several companies throughout the region invited employees to bring their children - of either gender.
``We changed it to Take Your Child To Work Day last year because of the outcry from our employees,'' said Sentara spokeswoman Debbie Myers, who brought her two daughters, Laura, 14, and Emily, 10, to work.
Sentara Health System hosted more than 238 children this year at their different health care facilities. There, children watched hospital staffers perform an array of tasks, including drawing blood from patients. One daughter even witnessed a woman giving birth.
Some of the area's biggest employers, however, were conspicuously silent Thursday.
Large local firms like Norfolk Southern Corp., Ford Motor Co.'s truck assembly plant and Newport News Shipbuilding did not sponsor specific events because of the liability associated with having children in traditionally blue-collar workplaces.
``The last-minute decision was we were not going to participate because of the safety factor,'' said William E. Boggs, plant manager at Ford's Norfolk Assembly Plant.
Others, like the U.S. Coast Guard Support Center Complex in Elizabeth City, did pitch in by showing girls how women can excel in nontraditional work roles like helicopter pilots, mechanics and engineers. About 125 children attended the daylong event on the base, said Bonnie Stratton, an avionics technician.
``As they get into the preteen and teen years, they get their egos squashed,'' Stratton said about young girls. ``When they're 9 and 10 years old, they're so full of vigor and by the time they're 13 they're mousy. They don't want to try any more. But if they're always surrounded by positive things in this time they won't lose it (the vigor).''
Some employers feel boys need the same reinforcement.
Barbara Stevens, USAA spokeswoman, explained that USAA has a ``family day'' in January instead of just a daughters day.
``We thought this was a little bit limiting, so we just open up to the whole family. We do want them to see where their parents work and all the things they hear about at home but never get to see.''
However, Dana Adler Rosen, a lawyer at Rutter & Montagna, thinks the emphasis on girls is important.
Rosen paired lawyers from the Virginia Women's Attorneys Association with girls nominated for Girls State, a leadership conference, from Maury High School.
``I think girls should know they can excel in the workplace,'' said the mother of two sons. ``Boys know that anyway.'' MEMO: Staff Writer Lon Wagner contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff
Dana Adler Rosen, left, a lawyer, discusses her workload with
Michael Leamer, 17, a Maury High School junior, on Thursday.
by CNB