Urban Outfitters Board Denounced for Refusal to Include Women or Minorities

You’d think a corporation that owns multiple brands catering solely to women would have a female-heavy board of directors. But for clothing giant Urban Outfitters Inc. — which owns Free People, Anthropologie, and BHLDN — the opposite is true. Seven people serve on the company’s board of directors. Guess how many are women: None.

Guess how many are people of color: None.

In May, Calvert Investments, which promotes socially responsible investing, urged Urban Outfitters to consider including women and minorities on its board in the future. The result? Urban Outfitters rebuffed them, denying that they had a diversity problem, according to Calvert senior analyst Aditi Mohapatra.

To be clear, Calvert didn’t ask Urban Outfitters to actually appoint women and minorities to its board, but to simply consider doing so in the future. That the company reportedly refused to even think about including women and people of color at a later date sends a strong message: diversity isn’t important. In 2011, that’s unacceptable, which is why Mohapatra launched a petition on Change.org demanding that Urban Outfitters diversify its all-male, all-white board.

The lack of women and minorities on the Urban Outfitters’ board of directors becomes even more appalling after considering that the company’s major competitors — The Gap, Limited Brands, Nordstrom, Ross Stores, and Abercrombie and Fitch — all have boards that include at least one woman or person of color. Due to the lack of diversity on it boards, Urban Outfitters hasn’t just faced criticism from Calvert, but also from the organization 2020 Women on Boards, which aims to raise the percentage of women on boards to 20 percent by the year 2020. At present, women make up 15 percent of Fortune 500 director positions.

“Has URBN lost sight of the fact that most of its customers are women? Wouldn't the board welcome a fresh, female perspective?” Women on Boards asked its on its website.

A board with no women and minorities is an insult to Urban Outfitters’ diverse clientele. Join organizations such as Calvert and 2020 Women on Boards in letting Urban Outfitters know that an all-white, all-board is unacceptable. As Mohapatra explained: “Sustainable and responsible investment firms such as Calvert Investments … have been advocating for board diversity because we believe it makes good business sense. Companies are starting to hear from their shareholders on why diversity is important, but they need to hear from their customers too!”

Photo Credit: Church Street Marketplace