'Fearless Girl' In NYC: Yuh-Line Niou Calls For Statue To Be Permanent

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — State Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou will lead a rally on Friday to call for the temporary Fearless Girl statue here to be made permanent.

Niou plans to release a letter calling for the statue, which was installed last week, to remain indefinitely. The letter has been signed by 50 female elected officials from across the city and state, according to a statement from Niou's office. A change.org petition calling for the statue to become a permanent fixture had more than 21,500 signatures as of Thursday evening.

The statue was put in place opposite Wall Street's famous charging bull structure as part of an asset management company's initiative to get more women on public companies' boards

Niou will lead the rally on Friday at 4 p.m. by the Fearless Girl herself, located near the intersection of Broadway and Beaver streets in the Financial District.

The fearless girl will remain in the Financial District until at least April 2, after the fixture's permit was extended. Patch has reached out to Mayor Bill de Blasio's office to see whether the mayor is receptive to calls for the statue to be made permanent. We'll update this post if we hear back.

The statue isn't without criticism, however. Many New Yorkers have noted that the fixture was installed by State Street Global Advisors, a Wall Street investment firm, to bring some feel-good publicity to the firm's call for more women to be on public companies' boards.

This post was updated with additional information on Friday at 11:55 a.m.

Lead image courtesy of Glenn Luk via Yuh-Line Niou's office.