She’s a 10: Female figure to appear on $10 bill

AFTER nearly 120 years, a woman will soon be on the American $10 bill.

By 2020, the Treasury Department will add an unnamed historical female figure to the $10 bill, as a tribute to the hard work and contributions of women in the US.

“It’s time for a woman to be back on our paper currency,” said Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. “It is a signal to the world of what we think and representing all of our people in our history is part of who we are.”

Meanwhile Alexander Hamilton – who, as the very first Treasury secretary, has been on the $10 since 1928 – will remain either on the reverse side or in a separate series of bills, according to USA Today.

The 1.9 billion $10 bills currently in circulation are expected to last another 10 years.

Over the last several months, a campaign to put a woman—Harriet Tubman, specifically—on the $20 bill went viral, so the pick of the $10 amount came as a surprise. Tubman won a narrow victory over former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on the earlier petition, followed by Rosa Parks and Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller.

More than 600,000 votes were cast to replace President Andrew Jackson with Tubman.

Though some argue the $10 is not as “prestigious” as the $20 bill, Lew said “the $10 is a pretty big deal.”

“I think the $10 bill is one of our most widely used bills, and it is, I think, as important as the $20,” he said.

Women on 20s, the group who advocated for the new $20 bill replacement, said they were “psyched,” but called the decision “not perfect.”

“Our paper currency is an important part of our everyday lives and reflects our values, traditions and history as Americans,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who first introduced the Women on the Twenty Act, in a statement. “It’s long overdue for that reflection to include the contributions of women.”

The government routinely redesigns currency for security reasons so that it’s more difficult to counterfeit.

The $10 bill was next in line and set to be unveiled in 2020, which also happens to be the 100th anniversary of women securing the right to vote.

The new bills – with the female figure –  won’t emerge until about five years down the road because of the redesign process, as well as ensuring they fit anti-counterfeit measures and tactile features for the blind.

“Putting a woman on [the $10], not only made dollars, it made sense,” Lew said.

The Treasury Secretary will ask the public for input, holding town halls and seeking suggestions through a new website and the social media hashtag: #thenew10.

Lew might even get some proposals from the commander in chief himself, who endorsed the idea last year.

“A young girl wrote to ask me why aren’t there any women on our currency, and then she gave me like a long list of possible women to put on our dollar bills and quarters and stuff—which I thought was a pretty good idea,” Obama said in 2014.

As secretary, Lew is the one who ultimately makes the decision, but he said no woman has been chosen yet.

“I have a bunch of candidates, but I am going to actually withhold my judgment until I hear from a number of more people as we go through this listening process,” Lew said.

The final decision could come as early as this fall.

No woman has appeared on new paper currency since Martha Washington, who was on a $1 silver note in the late 1800s. Pocahontas was first, gracing a $20 note beginning in 1865.

By law, no living person may appear on a bill, and George Washington must always remain on the $1. (With reports from CBS News, USA Today)

(www.asianjournal.com)

(LA Weekend June 20 – 23, 2015  Sec A pg.6)