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American Morning
Say Goodbye to 'Take Your Daughters to Work' Day
Aired April 25, 2002 - 08:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, say good-bye to "take your daughters to work" day. Well, not exactly. It was originally designed to encourage girls to follow their professional dreams and break that glass ceiling. But after being hit with a sex discrimination lawsuit, hey, it's America, that stuff happens here. Next year, there will be a new tradition that will include boys, just probably as it should be. Seventy-one million adults have taken part over the past decade.
Here on this last girl's-only day we're joined by Monisha, a participant in the very first take your daughter to work day when she was just 16 years old. Now she is a second-generation taker. And with Monisha this morning is Katie Jeffco (ph), who's the little sister.
Welcome to both of you. Nice to you have with us.
Safe to say Monisha that this changed your life?
MONISHA MERCHANT, 2ND GENERATION TAKER: It definitely did. It had a big impact on my decision to go into engineering.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I was going to say, 16 years ago you were taken where, to an engineering firm, is that it?
MERCHANT: The first year I accompanied an electrical engineer at Corsbury (ph). The second year I was at Raytheon engineers and constructors with five different engineers.
CAFFERTY: Now were those two visits perhaps the deciding factor in making your career choice?
MERCHANT: They definitely helped me in that decision in giving me an idea of real world experience just when I was in high school. I had a chance to shadow these engineers during their day on the job to find out exactly what it is they do.
CAFFERTY: What is now you do for a living?
MERCHANT: I work for Lucent Technologies as an engineer, and I've moved into the business side in optical networking.
CAFFERTY: How much help was the "take your daughter to work" experience in terms of not just introducing you to the field of engineering, but giving you perhaps that street knowledge, a little bit of understanding beyond the book learning you get in the classroom of how the engineering workplace operates, and the opportunities that were or weren't present for women at that time?
MERCHANT: It was really nice to spend time with women engineers and get their views and hear what their experiences were, both in college, and in entering the workplace.
CAFFERTY: Has it changed for your generation of women versus theirs, do you suppose?
MERCHANT: I think it's getting a little better. We still have a long way to go.
CAFFERTY: A little better. I was going to say, that's qualified.
What has to be done that hasn't been done yet?
MERCHANT: I think we just need to encourage girls at a young are age to consider careers in sciences and technology fields.
CAFFERTY: Now, Katie, you went to work with Monisha a couple of years ago, right?
KATIE JEFFCO: Yes, I did.
CAFFERTY: What was that about? Tell me all about it.
JEFFCO: It was about the electrical engineering business.
CAFFERTY: Did you go to Lucent Technologies where she works?
JEFFCO: Yes.
CAFFERTY: What do you want to be when you grow up? Do you know yet? I mean, you're a little young to have that all finalized?
JEFFCO: A cook.
CAFFERTY: A chef?
JEFFCO: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Cool.
Now you're also big and little sister. You guys get together what, once a week or so? Tell me a little bit about those business kind of things you talk about, stuff you do together.
JEFFCO: We go to the Liberty Science Center. We go to the movies. We...
CAFFERTY: What about things you talk about? Do you discuss things with her that you don't talk about with, say, you don't talk about when you're home. JEFFCO: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Like what?
JEFFCO: Like personal business.
CAFFERTY: You feel she's somebody you can talk to that maybe gives you an outlet that you don't have at home or at school?
JEFFCO: Yes.
CAFFERTY: What do you get out of being big sister? You obviously get something out of this program since you're actively involved in the taking your daughter to work at Lucent and you're a big sister for Katie here. What's it do for you?
MERCHANT: It's really nice to have the opportunity to work with kids, just because they continue to ask questions that you might have stopped asking, and let you see the world in a different place again and be inquisitive, and it's just a lot of fun to spend time with her.
CAFFERTY: You have a good time with together, right?
MERCHANT: Yes, I really enjoy the time we spend.
CAFFERTY: Did you have a big sister or mentor of some kind when you were her age?
MERCHANT: I have to thank my parents for that. They did a wonderful job in keeping my brother and I in line and being there for us. So I'm very thankful to have them as my mentors.
CAFFERTY: Let me ask you a question about the battle of the sexes. Now they're going to include sons in the "take your offspring to work" day, for want of a better way of saying it. Is that a good idea, or is that going to put young males once again in competition with young females, which this take your daughter to work was designed to kind of tear down that barrier?
MERCHANT: Actually I don't think it will really put them in competition. It will give a chance to see what both men and women are doing in the workplace and see what options are available to both sexes and to people in general, especially in this country.
CAFFERTY: It's nice to have both of you here, and thank you for coming in and sharing your experiences with us. Katie, don't worry about that thing. It falls out of my ear all the time, too, so it's not a big deal.
We've been talking to Monisha Merchant, who is a second- generation "take your daughter to work" day. She was taken to work when she was 16 years old, and now she's involved in taking young people to work. And Katie Jeffco, who's her little sister and participant in the program as well.
Nice to have you both here. MERCHANT: Thank you very much here.
JEFFCO: Thank you.
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