SSGA ups the stakes on gender diversity

One year on from its 'Fearless Girl' campaign, State Street is calling on 600 companies in its portfolios to provide more detailed information about their gender diversity.

In the past year, SSGA has written to more than 700 companies in the US, the UK and Australia with no women on their boards, imploring them to address their lack of gender diversity.

In that time, 152 of the companies targeted have placed women on their boards, according to SSGA.

>One year on from its 'Fearless Girl' campaign, State Street is calling on 600 companies in its portfolios to provide more detailed information about their gender diversity.

In the past year, SSGA has written to more than 700 companies in the US, the UK and Australia with no women on their boards, imploring them to address their lack of gender diversity.

In that time, 152 of the companies targeted have placed women on their boards, according to SSGA.

"The 152 leaves more than 600 companies in our original target universe that have still taken no action, and we will continue our engagement and voting efforts in 2018 as we look to make additional progress on this important issue," said the asset manager.

It is one year since State Street placed the 'Fearless Girl' statue in front of the iconic charging bull on Wall Street.

SSGA head of ESG investments and asset stewardship Rakhi Kumar said the statue exemplifies the firm's stewardship platform.

"Fearless Girl has sparked important conversations around the world, and has increased shareholder action on the issue of gender diversity. We applaud the many asset owners and managers controlling more than $13 trillion that have since joined us in our call to action," Ms Kumar said.

The asset manager has also expanded its gender diversity guidance to companies in Japan, Canada and Europe.