Something BIG is Happening in New York. And it is being conveyed in a statue of a little bronze girl.

Fearless Girl (picured with photojournalist) stands defiant against the Wall Street Bull, of the New York Stock Exchange. 

Fearless Girl statue first appeared in Bowling Green the day before International Women’s Day on March 8, staring down the “Charging Bull” statue on Wall Street. The statue is sponsored by an enormous multinational advertising conglomerate, working on behalf of a worldwide financial colossus, State Street Global Advisors, an arm of the 225-year-old State Street Corporation, which currently manages an estimated $2.5 trillion in assets. 

State Street Global Advisors, as the investment management division of State Street Corporation, which also includes a custodial bank administering $28 trillion in assets, State Street Global Advisors devises customized investment strategies for institutions with a lot of money to deploy — pension funds, universities, major charitable foundations — and builds mutual funds and exchange-traded funds for ordinary investors.

https://www.ssga.com/home.html

In the weeks since Fearless Girl appeared, a growing parade of ordinary citizens and politicians have celebrated the installation as a powerful work of public art and a symbol of a critical issue of our day.

Turning the World Upside Down

For some, Fearless Girl carries extra significance in the age of Trump, the perfect embodiment of the overlap of financial avarice and violent sexism. “Right after [the election], this miraculous girl appears and created such a powerful sensation because she spoke to the moment,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio last month, announcing that he had interceded to allow the statue to remain in place beyond the limits of its permit. “Sometimes, a symbol helps us become whole, and I think the Fearless Girl is having that same effect.”

Of the sculpture, ”It’s a reminder to myself to put my hands on my hips and open my mouth and stand up for myself,” Misty Allen told the Voice. It’s better to ”Fight like a girl.”

Village Voice: Fearless Girl is Not Your Friend, http://www.villagevoice.com/news/fearless-girl-is-not-your-friend-9918110

Institutional Investor: How State Street Global Advisors Became an Unlikely Activist, http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/3713873/investors-registered-investment-advisers/how-state-street-global-advisors-became-an-unlikely-activist.html#.WRIvdvttm00

Forbes: ’Fearless Girl’: State Street Global Advisors’ CMO On The Rationale, The Controversy And What’s Next, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferrooney/2017/04/21/fearless-girl-state-street-global-advisors-cmo-on-the-rationale-the-controversy-and-whats-next/#31d961c5382a