If you went into work today somewhere in the US, you may have found your office crawling with kids. That’s because today is the fourth Thursday of April, when close to 40 million parents and kids take part in “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.”
But as fun as today may be, Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day whitewashes the initial intent of the celebration, which began in 1993 as “Take Our Daughters to Work Day.” It was created by the Ms. Foundation’s then-president, Marie Wilson, and its founder, feminist icon Gloria Steinem, to motivate and inspire young women. Critics said that setting aside a day for daughters, specifically, to come to work was an act of discrimination; a men’s rights activist even tried to sue the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors for supporting what he viewed as a sexist event with public funds.
Because the day only celebrated girls, the foundation struggled to attract sponsorships. And so it relaunched the event in 2003 as Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, “with a new emphasis on inclusion, rather than on feminism,” according to The New Yorker.
Celebrating the achievements of parents around the world and inspiring their young children to do the same is a worthy cause. But Take Our Daughters to Work Day was started as a female-empowerment and mentorship program, and this history has been largely erased. So Quartz is taking the opportunity to celebrate the professional women who took their kids to work in 2018, because both daughters and sons can learn a lot about what women are capable of by seeing what their moms do at the office.
The hosts of The View
Kids took over the control room, the production team, and even the hosts’ table during this morning’s episode of The View.
Heather O’Rourke
Heather O’Rourke, the afternoon traffic reporter for Eyewitness News, brought her daughter to the ABC studio.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders opened the press briefing room to the children of reporters and brought two of her own kids into work.
…They even got to ask her some questions!
Senator Tammy Duckworth
Tammy Duckworth, who made history last week by bringing her newborn onto the Senate floor and passing legislation to allow all of her Senate colleagues to do the same, didn’t miss out on the chance to bring her baby daughter into work again: