A NASA research center will host live chat sessions on the Internet with successful women Thursday as part of "Take Our Daughters to Work Day."
Women who will participate in the virtual dialogues, sponsored by NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., include CNN anchor Judy Woodruff, astronaut Mae Jemison and Donna Shirley, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program.
"Many girls want to talk with successful women not only about academic and technical subjects, but also about personal concerns such as child care, marital issues, and homemaking tasks," Ames' K-12 Internet Initiative Project Manager Tish Krieg said. "Many girls will ask questions like, 'How do you balance personal and professional lives?'"
Each woman will be on-line for 45 minutes to take questions from girls across the country. To participate, girls (or their parents) will have to pre-register on the Ames Web site. Anyone will be permitted to observe the chats.
In her profile on the Web site, Shirley describes the obstacles that face women trying to climb the management ladder.
"It is true that women have to work harder than men to get as far because most of the managers are men. I believe it will be easier as more women move into high level management positions," Shirley wrote.
Other women who will participate in the sessions include: Laurie Sokoloff, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra piccoloist; Dr. Susan Love, director of the Santa Barbara Breast Cancer Institute; Sue Clymer, Founder and CEO, NichiBei Bio; Desiree Cherry, attorney; Nancy Ditz, Olympic marathoner; and Carol Bartz, CEO, Autodesk, Inc.
The chats will run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. EDT. For more information, visit http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/intro.html.
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