The world's third-largest asset manager installed a bronze statue of a defiant girl in front of Wall Street's iconic charging bull statue on Tuesday morning as part of its new campaign to pressure companies to add more women to their boards. State Street Global Advisors, a nearly $2.5 trillion investor and unit within State Street Corp., is rolling out the campaign ahead of International Women's Day on Wednesday. The money manager said it would vote against boards if a company failed to take steps to increase its number of members who are women. State Street plans to send a letter to 3,500 companies on Tuesday asking the companies to act. State Street is a huge player in the index fund world, managing about 90% of its assets in passive funds, which are often investing in companies held in the Russell 3000 and FTSE. The money manager has cited gender diversity as a way to improve company performance and increase shareholder value. The lack of women on boards has long been a problem. Beyond pipeline issues, some boards see no reason to increase their gender diversity, data shows. For State Street, the statue was a way to draw attention to the problem. Currently, nearly a quarter of boards represented in the Russell 3000 have no women at all, Heinel said, citing Institutional Shareholder Services data. "One of the most iconic images on Wall Street is the charging bull. So the idea of having a female sort of stand against the bull or stand up to the bull just struck us as a very clever but also creative and engaging way to make that statement," Heinel said. "Even though it's a little girl, her stance is one of determination, forwardness, and being willing to challenge and take on the status quo."
Happy International Women's Day! (celebrated everywhere but in the US, not even a Hallmark card for it) Well, the statue should be a woman not a girl for a start. The perceived message* is completely different with the girl. I wonder if the billionaire needed a permit or anyone can just install statues all over the city? Reddit quotes: "State Street Global Advisors, a HUGE asset management firm. The stated purpose of the statue is to encourage companies to hire more women in their top leadership positions. .....I went to the webpage and counted their top executives and came up with 15 women out of 79 top executives or 19% of top positions have women. " * " I was thinking that this was a statue put up by a group of everyday people as a statement regarding the youth refusing to accept greed in hopes to reform educational ideologies. I thought and hoped that this was a big ol' midden finger to the corporate and consumer state of America..."
All she needs now is that big ol Russian Bear standing right behind her ready to help in the fight against western Patriarchal Capitalism.
I don't think so. The era of equities is coming. They were depressed for too long relative to gold and real estate.
You obviously never worked on Wall Street. While it's as close to a meritocracy as it is possible, the deck is stacked against women. It's a structural issue and will take years to correct.