The Fearless Girl campaign was started in 2017 by State Street Global Advisors and in that time 300 companies have added a female director and 28 have committed to do so.
State Street Global Advisors head of ESG Investments and asset stewardship Rakhi Jumar said the company was proud to see the influence of Fearless Girl grow.
“Since her arrival, Fearless Girl has inspired companies and shareholders worldwide to focus on board diversity and join us in our call to action. We commend the companies that have already placed women on their boards in response to our outreach, and the others that have committed to doing so,” she said.
In the past twelve months the campaign has rolled out to Japan, Canada and Europe with Japan seeing 40 companies take action and in Europe 50 per cent of companies identified already had a female director.
State Street Global are taking things even further and starting in 2020 the group will vote against the entire slate of board members on the nomination committee if a company does not have at least one woman on its board.
According to the data collected by the group, Australia had 45 companies without a single female board member.
However, 21 companies have added a female director since engaging with the campaign and one other was committed to adding a female director in the future.
The chief executive and president of State Street Global Advisors Cyrus Taraporevala said the group was committed on finding responsible, diverse companies for their investors.
“Our commitment to asset stewardship exemplifies that focus as we firmly believe these issues should form part of an integrated investment approach,” he said.
