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Forget a rampaging bull, New York’s Fearless Girl statue will soon be staring down an even more terrifying foe: The stock market.
City Hall and the financial services firm that originally commissioned the statue, State Street Global Advisors, announced today that the popular statue will move to a new home opposite the New York Stock Exchange by year’s end.
When it was first installed across from the Wall Street Bull in March 2017, the Fearless Girl was intended to encourage companies to include more women on corporate boards, and was only meant to remain in place for a few days. However, crowds of people soon flocked to the bronze installation, which quickly took on an outsized meaning through its connotations of female empowerment and defiance.
As the girl gained popularity (Even Mayor De Blasio is a fan!) City Hall soon announced that it would be able to remain at its busy Bowling Green median for a year. Its upcoming move to a new home across from the Stock Exchange is meant to address safety concerns about traffic and also place the Instagram-friendly object in a more pedestrian-friendly area.
The statue is not without controversy, however. At a press conference last year, the original sculptor of the Wall Street Bull, Arturo Di Modica, argued that the new statue “tarnished” the positive message of his piece, which has been in place since 1989. A few months later, in an ironic twist, State Street Global Advisors agreed to pay $5 million in a settlement for allegations that it underpaid black and female employees.
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