Today on the International Women’s Day 2018 it is one year ago since State Street Global Advisors installed the statue of a Fearless Girl opposite the Charging Bull of Wall Street. What happened with the Fearless Girl and what impact has it had on raising awareness?
Power of Women in Leadership
The powerful symbol will hopefully remain in New York. But, the Fearless Girl spread her message about the power of women in leadership all over the world.
Over the past year the Fearless Girl has made a great impact. It is a growing symbol for gender equality and the power of women in leadership. Fearless Girl also represents the positive effect of having more women in leadership positions on a company’s performance and the growing economy. However, the number of women in leadership positions is still slowly increasing.
On the same day State Street placed Fearless Girl in New York, they also called on 3,500 companies in which they invest to add more women to their boards. This week they announced 152 publicly-traded companies that the firm reached out to – through either its voice or its vote – that previously had no women on their boards, now have at least one female board member. In the year since Fearless Girl was installed, State Street Global Advisors identified and reached out to 787 companies in the US, UK and Australia that had no women on their boards through direct engagement, its letter writing campaign or using its vote to address their lack of board diversity. Ultimately, State Street Global Advisors voted against 511 companies for failing to demonstrate progress on board diversity. In addition to the 152 companies that added a female board member, another 34 companies committed to adding at least one woman to their board in the near term. The firm also announced it would be expanding its board guidance to companies in Japan, Canada and Europe.
The Fearless Girl also spawned a great social media awareness with millions of tweets and publicity in the news. Two weeks ago, State Street has been awarded for the most creative advertising with the Fearless Girl at D&AD Impact Awards.
“Know the power of women leadership”
– it is still the claim in front of the Fearless Girl statue. The Global Female Leaders, in cooperation with State Street, wish to encourage more women to take leadership roles in the next years to continue lively discussions amongst female leaders on global challenges.
We are more than happy to welcome the Fearless Girl on June, 3rd at the Global Female Leaders 2018! Lori Heinel, Deputy Global Chief Investment Officer at State Street Global Advisors will give a global economic outlook in her opening keynote presentation. Do not miss the chance to meet her to discuss this great topic.
