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Girls
NASA's 7th Annual
Virtual Take Our Daughters To Work Day

NASA invites you to meet the women who have changed the way the world works and helped create the American Spirit. In anticipation of the Centennial of Flight celebrations, this year's events will focus on the many accomplishments women have made to the NASA legacy and their contributions to flight, aeronautics and space.

image of astronaut

Thursday, April 25, 2002
Join our live, interactive events all day!


        

Do you wonder why this day is devoted to you?
Check out these facts!

  • Girls consistently rate themselves lower than boys on computer ability, and have less positive attitudes toward computers. (American Institutes for Research, Gender Gaps: Where Schools Still Fail Our Children, 1998).
  • Women earn only 18 percent of doctorates in computer science in the United States. (The New York Times, September 1999).
  • Parents purchase technology twice as much for their sons as their daughters, while at school only a quarter of the students using computers during free time were girls (Girl Tech, "What's the Difference?," 1995, 2000).
  • 53% of girls said it is true that "people think the most important thing for girls to do is to get married and have children." (Girls Inc., Taking the Lead: Girls' Rights in the 21st Century, 2000)
  • The top five fastest growing occupations between 1998 and 2008 are information technology occupations, which require advanced computer skills. However, girls enroll more in clerical and data entry computer courses, the contemporary equivalent of typing classes, than in advanced computer classes (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 1999; American Institutes of Research, Gender Gaps: Where Schools Still Fail Our Children, 1998).
  • There are 2 female CEO's in the Fortune 500 and a total of 6 in the Fortune 1000. (Catalyst, Facts on Women.)
  • Many more facts on Women and Girls can be found on the Ms. Foundation for Women site
.

So what can you do to change these facts?

  • Ask your parents, parents' friends, aunts, uncles, neighbors, anyone who has a job that sounds interesting to you, to tell you about it. Spend a few hours at their work, encourage them to participate in this day.
  • If you can't visit someone on the job, meet and visit our NASA folks virtually and hear about their work and careers. Our day long interactive Forum, Webchats, and Webcasts will give you insight into their backgrounds, education, career paths, and what they actually do in their work.
  • Join our Women of NASA project to participate in year long mentoring activities and find out about other NASA women and cool careers.

How do you participate in NASA's Virtual Take Our Daughters to Work Day?

    1. Read through the schedule of activities and planned events. See which mentors match your interests and which times are convenient for you to join us.
    4. Review the Webcast instructions if you plan on participating in these events. Be sure to test the technologies involved and that you have them available on the machine you will be using. You will need Real Player. If you do not know if you have this, try opening up an archived webcast. If it opens and plays fine, then you are all set. If it doesn't, then you need to download RealPlayer. It is free and instructions for downloading are on the Webcast instruction pages.
    5. Prepare yourself for the event by reading the featured mentor's profile and related resources. Print out or bookmark the profile and the event URL. To have the best chance that your question will be answered, follow these guidelines:
      Make sure your question cannot be answered by the existing info.
      Make sure your question is relevant to the mentor's work.
      Make sure your question requires a brief explanation the mentor can provide online.
    6. Join the event. Remember to continually refresh your screen to see the ongoing discussion and to read all dialogue before you post a question. (Your question may have already been asked and answered.)

    7. Enter the Future Flight Contest and Astronaut Video
    Contest.

What if I miss this day?

 
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