The “Fearless Girl” statue will be moving closer to the New York Stock Exchange after spending a year staring down Arturo Di Modica’s “Charging Bull.”
The 50-inch tall bronze statue of a girl with her hands on her hips was created by Kristen Visbal and installed in March 2017 on the same plaza as the bronze Wall Street bull statue to celebrate “International Women’s Day.” It was controversial from the start.
The girl statue was commissioned by State Street Global Advisors, the fund management arm of Boston-based State Street, to call attention to the role of women in corporate America and its “gender diversity index” fund. State Street said Thursday that since the placement of the statue, more than 150 companies have added a female director to their boards.
SSGA is working with the New York City mayor’s office to move the statue by the end of this year.
“Our hope is that by moving her closer to the NYSE she will encourage more companies to take action,” said Cyrus Taraporevala, SSGA’s president and CEO, in a statement.
The bull’s artist, Di Modica, had fought to have the statue removed, complaining that it was an advertising gimmick that changed the meaning of his 11-foot-tall, 7,100-pound bull statue from one of prosperity to one of a villain.
In another twist, last year State Street paid $5 million to settle allegations it underpaid female and minority employees.
“Charging Bull” was originally placed outside the NYSE in 1989, two years after the ’87 crash. The police removed it, but it was later installed in its current home at Bowling Green.
There is another statue over by the NYSE that “Fearless Girl” will have to compete with: George Washington, who stands outside the Federal Hall National Memorial looking down Broad Street.
Be the first to comment