A Woman’s Place is on the Money

A Woman’s Place is on the Money

There is a campaign afoot, sponsored by womenon20s.org, to petition President Obama to send an order to the now Treasury Secretary, Jacob Lew, to put a woman on the $20 bill when the design changes in 2020.

What? A woman included in the massive money printing the Department of the Treasury routinely churns out? How very novel, considering that women make 80% of the buying decisions made everyday and considering that throughout our history there have been accomplished women who go unrecognized and underappreciated, not to mentioned adequately rewarded for their courage and daring.

Women On 20s is a non-profit, grassroots organization which aims to compel historic change by convincing President Obama that now is the time to put a woman’s face on our paper currency.

Women on their 20s used an online election format. It consisted of two rounds of voting, to let the public choose a nominee from an original slate of 15 inspiring American women in our shared history.

Over a period of 10 weeks, more than 600,000 people cast votes. The 15 selected candidates were chosen on two criteria: 1) their impact on society (given double weight) and 2) the level of difficulty they faced in pursuing their goals, including whether they were pioneers in their field. Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) emerged as the winner. She was an African-American abolitionist and humanitarian. During the American Civil War she was an effective and courageous Union spy.

On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10, the votes were tallied. On May 12, 2015, Women On 20s presented a petition to President Obama informing him of the results of the election and encouraging him to instruct Secretary of the Treasury, Jacob Lew, to use his authority to make this change. The goal is to have a new $20 bill in circulation before the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in 2020.

Fortunately, it doesn’t take a messy act of Congress to change a portrait on paper money. It only requires an order from the Secretary of the Treasury, Jacob Lew. With the stroke of a pen, the President can direct the him to make the change.

President Obama already has publicly responded to an interest in featuring more women on our money, when, during a speech, a child asked him why we didn’t see a woman on our money.

It takes 100,000 names to petition the White House for executive action. Womenon20s captured 609,090 names and email addresses!

Money and its official and professional management has long been the province of men, though for decades women have been managing households and businesses effectively. It is now time to give recognition to women for their commitment, courage and longstanding persistence.

Maggie Baker, Ph. D.
Psychologist – Financial Therapist
Author of Crazy About Money: “How Emotions Confuse Our Money Choices And What To Do About It”.