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

Theme Is Human Rights: "Imagine a Day When All Girls Have Their Rights"

Take Our Daughters to Work Day will be observed at Headquarters for the third consecutive year on Thursday, 23 April. As 1998 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this year's theme is "Imagine a day in which all girls have their rights". All staff, members of delegations and accredited media are invited to bring girls aged 9 to 15 to work with them to participate in the activities of the Day.

The observance, organized by the United Nations, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the United Nations Staff Committee and the Group on Equal Rights for Women in the United Nations, will begin at 9 a.m. in the General Assembly Hall. Zohreh Tabatabai, Focal Point for Women in the Secretariat, will welcome the guests; and Kensaku Hogen, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, will make opening remarks. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette will deliver the keynote address at 9:30 a.m. following a musical performance by Wayquay, a Native American (Ojibway) singer and poet. Workers of Wonder, a theater dance group from Columbia University, will also perform, and a short film will be screened.

At 11 a.m., the girls will be divided into two age groups for separate activities. Girls aged 9 to 12 will have the opportunity to participate in a mock press conference with Leti Oliva, an 18-year-old acrobat who performed with the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil, in room 226; attend a talk show run by Andrea Johnson of the Girls Speak Out Foundation in UNTV studio H, or take a tour of UNICEF exhibits. Girls aged 13 to 15 will watch video clips of four teenage representatives to the Commission on the Status of Women. They will then separate into small groups led by women ambassadors and experts from the United Nations system to discuss the following human rights issues: the concept of human rights; violence against girls; education; environment; and children in armed conflict.

- 2 - Note No. 5498 21 April 1998

At 12:15 p.m., all the girls will reassemble in the General Assembly Hall for a musical performance by singer/guitarist Alisha Carstens. The girls are expected to spend the rest of the afternoon in the offices of their parents or mentors.

A number of prominent women will be guests at this year's observance, including women ambassadors, board members of the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), and Marie Wilson, President of the Ms. Foundation.

Take Our Daughters to Work Day was launched in 1993 by the Ms. Foundation for Women. The Day is designed to give girls an opportunity to develop a sense of their own potential by working alongside adult mentors, where they can see for themselves what women accomplish in the world and strengthen their belief in the promise and importance of education. While most boys are influenced early on to plan for a lifetime of work and career development, many girls are not, even though most will work outside the home for pay throughout most of their lives. Take Our Daughters to Work Day is the one day of the year when girls get the undivided positive attention of adults and the media, being celebrated and encouraged to pursue their dreams. It 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.

For further information, call 963-6910; for media accreditation, 963-6934; for United Nations television coverage, 963-7650.

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