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On the eve of International Women’s Day, State Street Global Advisors, which manages some $2.5 trillion in assets, indicated its solidarity with the day’s demonstrators. The company installed a roughly 4.3 feet tall bronze statue of a defiant girl in front of Wall Street's iconic charging-bull statue.
The reaction to the new statue, designed by artist Kristen Visbal, was immediate and powerful. The installation was part of a much broader campaign. "Fearless Girl," as the statue was renamed, was part of State Street’s campaign to pressure companies to add more women to their boards. The firm followed up the installation with a letter to thousands of companies asking them to take action to increase the diversity on their boards.
When the permit allowing the statue to sit on city property expired, the artist argued that her sculpture was about much more than a company’s corporate ambitions. She spoke about the importance of equal pay for women, discussed the fight for women’s rights in developing countries such as Afghanistan and India, and made the pitch that the statue was a symbol of the global women’s movement.
There’s real irony to this.
Creative Commom Licenses | Photo: Fearless Girl Statue by Kristen Visbal New York City Wall Street
In September 2017, several months after the statue went up, State Street agreed to pay five million dollars to settle claims by the U.S. Department of Labor that it had systematically discriminated against women and Black employees through unfair pay practices. A headline on CNN read, at the time, “Awkward! Company behind ‘Fearless Girl’ settles gender pay dispute.”
Add to this State Street's own record on gender diversity — their top executives are 82% men…
Well, not a surprise, frankly.
Also, it tells us a lot about how some brands consider their Diversity, Equality and Inclusion policy a Marketing tool, a mere PR technique, instead of a visible sign of standing for social justice and equality.
Well, now we know that this is not really the case. And I think that this “branding bubble” has grown up to the point of influencing the whole company's behavior.
Companies have been climbing over themselves to take a stand and speak out, running all those PR activities that make them feel good about themselves while making no difference to anything or anyone out there in the real world.
Moreover, the report found that the greater the representation, the higher the likelihood of outperformance.
Together is how we move forward.
— adidas (@adidas) May 30, 2020
Together is how we make change. https://t.co/U1nmvMhxB2
While it’s remarkable that two global brands decide to take a position and make statements about racism and the lack of representation that the black community in the US (and people of color in general) face, it should also be apparent that they are not part of the change they are trying to promote.
Yes, we are the first to say that correlation doesn’t equal causation; lack of representation doesn’t necessarily prove these companies are racist. But the numbers clearly show that they are not trying enough.
They have a long way to go.
Words are relevant, but actions are profound. Companies need to become the change they are tweeting about.