Women’s rights and gender equality have been on a lot of minds these days. From Patricia Arquette’s speech for equal pay at the Oscars to the fight in India for women’s rights to be recognized by everyone and not just by lawmakers. It’s interesting to me that although most of the free world considers themselves to be progressive that such inequality is still an issue.
The year 2020 marks an important anniversary in the United States: the 100th anniversary of constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote. To commemorate this occasion, a non-profit organization called Women on 20s is setting out to petition the White House to put a female face on the $20 note. For almost a year, they’ve been planning on petitioning President Obama for the change, but now they’ve come to a point in time where they need the voices of the people to help choose who will be on that bill. Their first primary round of voting includes 15 valued American women who’ve helped shape the United States into the society we know today.
As seen on nymag.com
Fortunately, the process of making these types of changes is fairly easy (as far as politics go). A petition to the White House takes at least 100,000 names to be heard by the President and to have executive action take place. At that point it’s up to the President to decide whether to go ahead and direct the Treasury Secretary to make the change.
This would be a historic change to the Department of the Treasury. Women have been featured on their coinage, but never on paper bills. In 1978, Jimmy Carter introduced the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin. 800 million were minted but they were commonly mistaken for quarters by consumers. In the year 2000, the dollar coin was revived by the gold-hued Sacagawea. By 2012, only 3 million had been minted and clearly never gained popularity. Personally, the only place that I’ve received and used a Sacagawea dollar has been through metropolitan transit terminals and kiosks. How about you?
If you would like more information and would like to cast your vote as to who should be on the $20 bill, you can go to the Women on $20’s website.
Advisor Abbate 