NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS TAKE OUR DAUGHTERS TO WORK DAY TO BE OBSERVED AT HEADQUARTERS

Press Release

NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS TAKE OUR DAUGHTERS TO WORK DAY TO BE OBSERVED AT HEADQUARTERS

Take Our Daughters to Work Day will be observed officially for the first time at United Nations Headquarters on Thursday, 25 April. All Secretariat staff and members of delegations are invited to bring girls ages 9 to 15 to work with them to participate in the activities of the Day.

Launched in 1993 by the Ms. Foundation for Women, Take Our Daughters to Work Day gives girls an opportunity to develop a sense of their own potential by working alongside adult mentors. Millions of girls in 15 countries around the world will accompany adults to workplaces, where they can see for themselves what women accomplish in the world and strengthen their belief in the promise and importance of education.

Research shows that teenage girls receive less attention than boys do in school, and that they tend to value themselves more for what they look like than for what they can do. While most boys are influenced early on to plan for a lifetime of work and career development, many girls are not. Yet, in reality most women work outside the home for pay most of their lives. Take Our Daughters to Work Day allows girls to see work as an integral and valuable part of women's lives, and to make crucial connections between their own education and their future in the workplace.

The observance at Headquarters, organized by the Office of Human Resources Management Focal Point for Women, the Group on Equal Rights for Women in the United Nations, and the United Nations Staff Committee, will begin at 10 a.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber with a screening of United Nations films. Following the screening, participants will be addressed by United Nations officials, including Rosario Green, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on gender issues, and Denis Halliday, Assistant Secretary- General for Human Resources Management.

Also participating in the event will be Zohreh Tabatabai, Office of Human Resources Management Focal Point for Women, Rosemarie Waters, President, United Nations Staff Committee, and Loraine Rickard-Martin, Vice-President, Group on Equal Rights for Women in the United Nations. From 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., girls ages 13 to 15 will have an opportunity to interview female Secretariat staff from various occupational groups, and behind-the-scenes

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tours of Secretariat working areas will be offered for girls ages 9 to 12. Girls will spend the rest of the afternoon in the offices of their parents or mentors.

In an effort to underscore the educational aspect of the Day, the Ms. Foundation for Women will award $20,000 (value at maturity) United States Savings Bonds to three girls ages 9 to 17 in a random drawing to be held in summer 1996. In addition, $1,500 will be awarded to each winner's school, for use towards girls' athletic programmes. Entry coupons will be available in the Trusteeship Council Chamber on the day of the event.

For further information, please call 963-6335.

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