The Face It Campaign is an attempt to bring attention to the fact that Facebook's board of directors features only white men, or more specifically, no women. To support the cause, you can sign a petition on iPetitions, follow on Twitter, read the blog, and of course Like the campaign's Facebook Page.
Alice Baumgartner, one of the group's members, told me the campaign "protests the fact that although women make up the majority of Facebook's users, produce the majority of its content, and drive its profits, Facebook's board is made up of seven white men. The Face It campaign is supported by community and business leaders who are tired of seeing so little movement on the issue of diverse leadership."
Here's the campaign's official description:
The FACE IT Campaign is led by young women and men across the world—from Australia to Europe to the United States to Argentina—with the help of community leaders and business professionals.
The reason is that Facebook has announced a $5 billion IPO—with a corporate board composed exclusively of white men.
We believe that this board of white men should include women of all colors. Because Facebook should go public with a board that reflects its own mission—to make the world more open and connected.
Simple as that.
As you can see in the video above, the campaign was supposed to launch yesterday, but it ended up officially launching today. I'm guessing the group decided debuting on April Fools' Day wasn't the best idea.
Facebook's board of directors currently includes former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners, The Washington Post Company chairman and CEO Donald E. Graham, Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital and Founders Fund, as well as Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (the board's chairman).
Two months ago, the California State Teachers' Retirement System told Facebook that a board of directors of seven members is unacceptable, not only because it is small, but because it only features men. A week later, the Institutional Shareholder Services told Facebook that its co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has too much power. Last month, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce applauded Facebook for updating its IPO filing to include minority-owned banks as underwriters.
I have contacted Facebook about the campaign and will update you if I hear back.
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