Fearless Girl
Fearless Girl is a bronze sculpture by Kristen Visbal, on Broad Street across from the New York Stock Exchange Building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The statue was installed on March 7, 2017, in anticipation of International Women's Day the following day. It depicts a 4-foot high (1.2 m) girl promoting female empowerment.
Fearless Girl was commissioned by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), a large asset management company, to advertise for an index fund that comprises gender-diverse companies that have a relatively high percentage of women among their senior leadership. A plaque originally placed below the statue stated:
"Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference,"
The word "SHE" on the plaque being both a descriptive pronoun and the fund's NASDAQ ticker symbol.
The statue was first installed at the northern tip of Bowling Green on Broadway, facing down the Charging Bull statue. Since the charging bull is intended to represent economic growth the placement of Fearless Girl, perhaps unintentionally, implied that she was standing in the way of economic progress.
Following complaints from that statue's sculptor, Arturo Di Modica, it was removed in November 2018 and relocated to its current location the following month. A plaque with footprints was placed on the original site of Fearless Girl.