National Post

Fearless Girl helps reshape U.S. boards

- Em i ly Ch asan and Jeff Green

NEW YOR K • In the year since State Street’s Fearless Girl statue started her showdown with Wall Street’s Charging Bull, the US$ 2.6trillion asset manager has faced a confrontat­ion of its own in corporate boardrooms: pressing firms to add more women to their boards.

More than 150 companies State Street targeted for not having a female director as part of its Fearless Girl campaign have added at least one, it said Wednesday. The company sent letters and engaged in an unpreceden­ted withholdin­g of votes from directors responsibl­e for nominating their colleagues at more than 400 companies.

“We still have a long way to go but we’re happy to see the impact we’ve had so far,” said Rakhi Kumar, who leads environmen­tal, social and governance investment strategy at Boston- based State Street. “This is about diversity of thought and background­s. Women could be 50 per cent of your customer base, and 30 per cent of your employees. How are you representi­ng the views of half of society?”

Investor- l ed efforts to get women on boards are at their strongest in years. In recent months, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System said it will withhold votes from directors at companies without women on their boards. BlackRock Inc. has said it now expects companies to have at least two women on their boards and proxy adviser Glass Lewis & Co. in December pledged to start recommendi­ng votes against directors at Russell 3000 Index companies with all-male boards in 2019.

The number of companies in the Russell 1000 Index without any women on their boards has fallen to 47 from a recent high of 176 in 2009.

After f ocusing on 787 companies in the U. S., U. K. and Australia without a female director, State Street is back at it this proxy season. It has added boards in Japan and Canada to the target list this year, Kumar said. The firm will also seek improved disclosure on diversity at all levels of employees to boost the pipeline of senior female executives, she said.

The percentage of female board members has now surpassed that of senior female executives, according to the bank’s research, Kumar said. Less than five per cent of chief executive roles in the S& P 500 Index are held by women, according to Bloomberg. For firms that haven’t made any changes, “the bar is going to be much higher this year,” Kumar said.

It’s unclear whether Fearless Girl will stay around for another year. The statue is permitted to remain in her l ocation until Thursday, but New York City officials haven’t announced if she will get a new home.

There’s been increased poignancy to her place on Wall Street this year as U. S. and U. K. banks have sought to quantify pay discrepanc­ies between men and women employees. State Street itself agreed in October to settle allegation­s that it discrimina­ted against more than 300 female executives by paying them less.

 ?? MARK LENNIHAN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES ?? The Charging Bull and Fearless Girl in New York. More than 150 companies State Street investment bank targeted for not having a female director as part of its Fearless Girl campaign have added at least one, it said Wednesday.
MARK LENNIHAN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES The Charging Bull and Fearless Girl in New York. More than 150 companies State Street investment bank targeted for not having a female director as part of its Fearless Girl campaign have added at least one, it said Wednesday.

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