MALE ACTIVIST SUES OVER 'DAUGHTERS AT WORK' DAYSLONGTIME PETALUMA ACTIVIST CONTENDS SONOMA COUNTY SUPERVISORS DISCRIMINATE BY SPONSORING ANNUAL EVENT

Petaluma male rights activist Joe Manthey has filed a civil rights lawsuit

against the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, contending that the county's

support of ''Take Our Daughters to Work Day'' discriminates against boys.

Manthey, a former substitute teacher, has fought for years against the

annual national event, begun in 1993, in which girls are invited into their

parents' workplaces in an effort to break down employment stereotypes for

women.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco last week, claims

that 60 girls participated in special programs and lunch last April as part of

a workday event put on by the county's Commission on the Status of Women, a

group appointed by and overseen by the supervisors.

Manthey's attorney, Chris Ferry of Pleasant Hill, said public agencies

cannot put on any event that excludes participation based on gender.

''Nothing is more rewarding to a child than to see their mother or father

do well in public and be recognized,'' Ferry said. ''The way the county has

this event set up, it is being denied to boys. You can't do that. It's

discrimination.''

Ferry said his client is not seeking any monetary damages but only an order

that the county cease supporting the girls-only workday.

Neil Baker, chief deputy Sonoma County counsel, said his office has not yet

seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

Mike Kerns, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said he has met several

times with Manthey over the past three years and persuaded the board to

declare a second workday invitation that included boys.

''We've tried to be fair about it,'' Kerns said. ''The last two years we've

had both. We've got a Take Your Children to Work Day, too.''

Kerns said the board has been reluctant to disrupt the special programs

specifically geared to girls that have been in place for several years. ''If

some group wanted to come along and do something similar for boys, I'm sure

most of the board would agree,'' Kerns said.

Manthey argues that a separate day for all children still provides special

treatment for girls. He says boys need as much or more encouragement from

employers as girls do.

''The myth is that girls are the more fragile gender,'' he said. ''Which

one is more likely to have thought or brain disorders, to be diagnosed with

learning disabilities, more likely to drop out of high school or less likely

to go to college? It's boys.''

Representatives of the Ms. Foundation for Women in New York, which

originally sponsored the event, did not return phone calls Monday.

Lorene Irizary, director of the women's commission, said she could not

comment, citing the pending lawsuit.

Ferry said he did not know of any similar lawsuit having been filed over

the issue of excluding boys from the workday event. In recent years, however,

an increasing number of employers and government agencies have broadened the

event to include boys.

You can reach staff writer Tom Chorneau at 521-5214 or

tchorneau@pressdemocrat.com.