A Woman's Place is on the Money

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What impact does the new $20 bill have on Women?

WOMEN ON 20S RESPONDS TO TREASURY’S OFFICIAL PLAN FOR THE $10 AND $20

NEW YORK, April 20, 2016 – After more than a year of campaigning to convince the U.S. Treasury to replace the portrait of Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with the face of a female American hero, Women On 20s is celebrating the Treasury Department’s decision to accelerate production of a new $20 bill, revealing its design in time for the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in 2020 and working with the Federal Reserve Board to fast-track its issuance into circulation.

Secretary Lew’s choice of the freed slave and freedom fighter Harriet Tubman to one day feature on the $20 note is an exciting one, especially given that she emerged as the choice of more than half a million voters in our online poll last Spring.  Not only did she devote her life to racial equality, she fought for women’s rights alongside the nation’s leading suffragists.

Suffragists marching in New York City in 1913. (Photo Credit: George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress)

We are gratified to have sparked a conversation about the symbols and historical figures that define us as a nation. And we are heartened that Secretary Lew, U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios and Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen are committed to including women in the portrait gallery of paper currency in the near future. Our work ahead will be to make sure the next administration makes this happen in a timely way.

“We are delighted that the parties involved in the decision are united in their commitment to the goal of honoring women in this  most visible fashion,” said Women On 20s Founder Barbara Ortiz Howard. “It’s high time to get the party started.”

Women On 20s Executive Director Susan Ades Stone added, “We had been looking to this Treasury Secretary to put a woman front and center as soon as possible and powerfully inspire the quest for gender equality going forward. Today’s announcement is an important step in moving us closer to that goal.”

Ades Stone also noted, “This is just as much a victory for the millions of American people, young and old, who cared enough about women and their worth to rally for this historic change.”

Lew also announced design changes for the $5 and $10 USD bills. While Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Hamilton will continue to grace the front of the respective notes, the backs will feature women and civil rights leaders. The new $10 bill will have Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and Susan B. Anthony — All leaders of the 1903 suffrage movement that fought for the right of women to vote in public elections and to stand for electoral office.

The final designs of the new bills will be revealed to the public in 2020, the 100-year anniversary of the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote. The new currency, starting with the $10 bill, will enter into circulation later that decade.

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 Resources & Photo Credit: Washingtonpost.com and Women on 20s