The popular statue of a young girl staring down Wall Street’s famous ‘Charging Bull’ can remain until February 2018, according to New York’s mayor. The statue had originally been granted a permit until April 2.
“Now she’ll be asserting herself and affirming her strength even after her temporary permit expires – a fitting path for a girl who refuses to quit," Mayor Bill de Blasio told the New York Daily News on Monday.
The statue, ‘Fearless Girl,’ a 50-inch bronze of a pony-tailed girl in a windblown dress, was installed on the evening of International Women’s Day and was sculpted by Kristen Visbal.
It stands on Department of Transportation property, and was originally commissioned to stay only for a week before the permit was initially extended until April 2.
When the statue became an internet and social-media sensation after it was installed in Bowling Green Park at the beginning of Women’s History Month, advocates and fans started a petition to push for it to remain permanently.
The Care2 petition says, "Women's equality is not a temporary issue," and therefore should not be limited to a day, week or month.
Others have criticized the sculpture, however, including the Charging Bull's creator, who called it an "advertising trick."
The Village Voice called it a “PR stunt by Wall Street Patriarchs.”
“As it turns out, the statue of the little girl symbolically defying Wall Street was installed by... Wall Street itself. And not just any financial company, but State Street Global Advisors, the world's third-largest asset manager, with $2.4 trillion under management,”wrote the Village Voice.
New York Daily News columnist Ginger Adams Otis emphasized the choice of a ‘fearless girl’ rather than a woman to talk about Wall Street’s lack of diversity.
“Men don’t always find it easy to deal with women in the workplace – especially fearless ones,” wrote Otis. “In fact, women’s workplace problems often rise exponentially as they grow more fearless. The best companies – and people – know there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a fearless woman. We run corporations. We fly planes. We construct buildings. We put out fires. We dig tunnels. We make money.”