I have mixed feelings about Take Our Offspring to Work Day.
I have mixed feelings about Take Our Offspring to Work Day. There have been times when some parents simply brought their children with them to work, regardless. I don't know how common that still is.
It continues to be true that girls are not encouraged or supported in many fields while boys are, so I think a concerted effort to do so is entirely valid. I have little sympathy for all of the outcry over Boys Left Out! It suggests that TOOTWD is the only future career/job related activity that any children are ever exposed to, and that is simply untrue in the general privileged corners of the world. There were, and still are, valid reasons to support and encourage girls apart from boys. The hue and cry suggests an awful lot of the sort of stuff that comes up any time somebody suggests girls should get special treatment, so to speak.
My familiarity with it is based on a structured half-day or whole-day program, supported by the company or workplace. It therefore does not allow random children random access. Also, the age groups are usually junior high/middle school on up, so appropriate behavior is expected, period. To my mind it is odd, but some parents actually object to a structured program. I don't get that, but it exists.
I feel like it should be for women and about women and sure, it's definitely potentially beneficial for boys to hear positive things about women, so there's an upside to including them in that sense. I'm just not sure anybody uses this as an educational opportunity, any more.
Basically, I guess I think if it's just a random career day, then forget it. If it's genuinely about supporting and educating people who still haven't got access and respect, in this case particularly women/girls, then it's important. Ymmv.
It continues to be true that girls are not encouraged or supported in many fields while boys are, so I think a concerted effort to do so is entirely valid. I have little sympathy for all of the outcry over Boys Left Out! It suggests that TOOTWD is the only future career/job related activity that any children are ever exposed to, and that is simply untrue in the general privileged corners of the world. There were, and still are, valid reasons to support and encourage girls apart from boys. The hue and cry suggests an awful lot of the sort of stuff that comes up any time somebody suggests girls should get special treatment, so to speak.
My familiarity with it is based on a structured half-day or whole-day program, supported by the company or workplace. It therefore does not allow random children random access. Also, the age groups are usually junior high/middle school on up, so appropriate behavior is expected, period. To my mind it is odd, but some parents actually object to a structured program. I don't get that, but it exists.
I feel like it should be for women and about women and sure, it's definitely potentially beneficial for boys to hear positive things about women, so there's an upside to including them in that sense. I'm just not sure anybody uses this as an educational opportunity, any more.
Basically, I guess I think if it's just a random career day, then forget it. If it's genuinely about supporting and educating people who still haven't got access and respect, in this case particularly women/girls, then it's important. Ymmv.
For sure there's no 100% way to keep this non-disruptive. I feel like if a company is doing this, though, they should also be clearly not expecting the same productivity as usual that day. Or offering options like working from home.
ReplyDeleteI guess I view any particular day's productivity as being expendable, so if kids come in and make less work get done... ¯\(ツ)/¯
ReplyDelete