Facebook's board of directors — a de facto mens club — has upset the nation's second-largest pension fund.
The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) sent a letter to Facebook Tuesday complaining that the world's largest social network doesn't have enough women or members on its seven-member board.
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"We are disappointed that the Facebook board will not have any women members," CalSTRS corporate governance director Anne Sheehan wrote to Facebook, according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the letter. "We believe that investors and the company would benefit from a larger, more diverse board."
If Facebook wants a board that is representative of its user base, it should heed the advice: A 2011 Pew Internet and American Life survey found that a whopping 58 percent of its users are women.
Facebook's seven-member board, announced on Feb. 1 when the company filed for its IPO, is chaired by the company's co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Also on the board are venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Accel Partners shareholder Jim Breyer, Washington Post Company chairman and CEO Donald E. Graham, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, University of North Carolina President Emeritus Erskine Bowles, and Founders Fund partner Peter Thiel.
By comparison, Google's board is made up of 10 directors, including three women. Apple has one female director on its eight-person board.
CalSTRS currently holds some ownership in Facebook and says that it plans to hold Facebook common stock when the company goes public.
Facebook has not responded to a request for comment.