[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 46 (Thursday, April 23, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S3473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TAKE OUR DAUGHTERS TO WORK DAY

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Today, Mr. President, and colleagues, is a very special 
day in America. We are celebrating here in the Senate, and millions of 
people around our Nation are celebrating this special day. It is ``Take 
Our Daughters to Work Day.'' And mothers and fathers and aunts and 
uncles and friends are taking their special charges to work with them 
to see perhaps a side of life that some young girls do not get to see.
  It is the sixth year that our Nation has celebrated in this way. I 
wanted to just say for the record that we have made a lot of progress 
in our Nation in the past 30 years. In 1968, only 20 percent of 18- to 
24-year-old women were enrolled in college. Today, thank goodness that 
number is climbing, and we are at 36 percent.
  The median earnings for women in 1968 was only $18,500. Today, women 
earn an average of $23,000. We are making progress, but not enough.
  I saw a statistic the other day that still 80 percent of all women 
who work out of the home earn less than $25,000, earning 74 cents on 
every dollar earned by their male counterparts.
  In 1968, women owned fewer than 5 percent of the Nation's businesses. 
That number has doubled, and I am proud to say that there are more 
people employed by women-owned businesses than all the Fortune 500 
companies in the country. So we are making progress.
  Today is a day to honor the progress that is being made. But it is 
also a day to encourage our young girls, particularly in the ages of 9 
to 15, to reach for their dreams, to expand their horizons, to consider 
all the great options that are available for them as they think about 
beginning to make choices about their careers. They can balance home 
life and work life and they can chose careers that were unheard of just 
a few years ago.
  I hope some of these young girls who are here today with us will 
think about the Senate, I say to our colleague from Michigan, to think 
about encouraging more young women to run here for the Senate.
  So I thank my colleagues for giving me this time to recognize this 
day. I want to welcome my niece with me today, Gracie Landrieu, who 
came up--my daughter is only 10 months old, so she is a little too 
young to appreciate today. But she is going to be with me for a few 
minutes later today. But my niece, who is 10, can most certainly 
appreciate the great challenges before her. And I wish her all the 
best, as we do all of our daughters across America.
  Thank you.

                          ____________________