'Fearless Girl' statue sponsor State Street drops boardroom diversity targets
Last edited Sat Mar 1, 2025, 09:07 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: Reuters
February 28, 2025 7:25 PM EST Updated 9 hours ago
Feb 28 (Reuters) - State Street's (STT.N) asset management unit on Friday dropped targets for the number of women and minority directors who should serve on corporate boards, according to new proxy voting guidance posted on its website.
The changes were in line with those of other major asset managers under political pressure, shifts likely to slow the pace at which boardrooms add directors who are not white men. But the change was striking for State Street, which in March 2017 installed the famous "Fearless Girl" statue in Manhattan's financial district as part of a campaign to increase gender diversity in business.
Along those lines, the global proxy voting policy of State Street Global Advisors as of March 2024 stated the firm expected boards of companies in major indexes to be 30% female or risk votes against nominating committee members. Larger S&P 500 companies were also expected to have at least one racial or ethnic minority director.
Those targets, however, do not appear in new guidance as of March 2025 from the Boston-based asset manager. Instead State Street wrote that board nominating committees are "best placed" to determine composition.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/fearless-girl-statue-sponsor-state-street-drops-boardroom-diversity-targets-2025-02-28/
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meaning being in a field - a "STEM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) one - that women were and still are, discouraged from going into, IMHO it represents defiance in the face of something threatening.
The original placement of that statue was in front of the Wall Street "bull" and the bull sculptor apparently whined and complained, so they caved and moved "Fearless Girl" elsewhere (which IMHO, underscores the whole point of societal reaction). 
