USA TODAY International Edition
Send ‘ Fearless Girl’ on a nationwide tour
In 1989, artist Arturo Di Modica deposited his Charging Bull statue on Wall Street, intending for the animal to become a symbol of American resilience in the aftermath of a stock market crash two years earlier. He succeeded. In the decades since, Di Modica’s work of art has become a financial district mainstay, often used to portray economic optimism and a bull market in equities.
In recent weeks, however, the bull has had some uninvited company, namely a 4- foot- tall, pigtailed statue known as Fearless Girl who was placed a short distance away, staring down the snorting beast. The girl’s sponsor, State Street Global Advisors, said the purpose was to call attention to the need for more women in leadership and “greater gender diversity on corporate boards.” ( Observers quickly called attention to the fact that State Street has just three women on its 11member board and five on its 28member leadership team.)
Fearless Girl was only supposed to be on display for a brief period after International Women’s Day. Now, thanks to popular demand and opportunistic politicians, her stay on Wall Street has been extended to a year, which is too long.
While we understand and applaud the purpose behind the statue, Di Modica, 76, is right to complain that the juxtaposition of bull and girl changes the meaning of his art without his permission. It’s time for Fearless Girl to move on to other bastions of male chauvinism. There is no shortage of potential tour stops.
She might start a few dozen blocks uptown at Fox News headquarters, which has been a hotbed of alleged sexual harassment under former chief Roger Ailes and former star host Bill O’Reilly. The next stop could be Trump Tower, developed by the man who defended O’Reilly and was caught on tape bragging about groping women.
From there, Fearless Girl could head south to the U. S. Capitol, where women hold 104 of 535 ( 19.4%) of the seats in Congress. Then it’s a short hop to the Pentagon, where barriers to women in the U. S. military are being lifted, but an ingrained, male- dominated culture continues to reject them as peers.
After a swing south to the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Fearless Girl could go West to Hollywood, where just 17% of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers working on the top 250 domestic grossing films were women.
Then it’s up the California coast to Silicon Valley, where the male- dominated tech sector has been permeated by harassment, lesser pay and stalled careers. In a 2015 survey of more than 200 veteran female employees at major tech firms, 90% said they witnessed sexist behavior at company events or industry conferences, and 60% reported being targeted by unwanted sexual advances.
So it would be a shame to leave Fearless Girl anchored on Wall Street. Her purpose, as with Charging Bull’s, is one that bolsters what America is about: standing tall in difficult circumstances, representing this country’s strength.
Do justice to both statues, and don’t permanently pit one against the other.