Up until Wednesday night, I figured the push to have a woman’s mug gracing American currency was nothing more than internet fun. Apparently, this is a thing that’s actually happening.
Late Wednesday evening, Benny Johnson and Justin Green of IJ Review reported the new $10 could be available as soon as 2020:
The Treasury Department is preparing to announce that they are putting a woman on the $10 bill, as a source has confirmed what appears to be a premature tweet.Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will announce Thursday that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will put a woman on the bill as soon as 2020.
The Treasury attempted to be female friendly in 1978 when they printed $1 coins featuring Susan B. Anthony’s face. Only 1/3 of the coins were circulated though. Despite the convenience of the $1 coin, the fad never really caught on.
When it comes to having a woman’s face on the cash I use to buy shoes, books, and americanos, I’m indifferent. It all spends the same.
If anything, I loathe the idea that because I’m a woman I’m supposed to applaud or champion all women firsts a la “it’s time a woman _____!” Being a woman and doing something a man did years before is not in itself an accomplishment. Likewise, slapping a woman’s face on a $10 bill isn’t a cause to celebrate.
Of the available jackasses printed on our cash (read: Andrew Jackson, though he knew how to throw a killer party), why replace Alexander Hamilton?! If there’s anything insulting about the latest attempt to feminize American cash, it’s that Hamilton is getting booted for a yet to be determined chick just so America can say we have a chick on our currency. LAME.
According to The Hill, the Treasury plans to crowd source suggestions for the new $10 bill:
Lew said Obama administration officials are seeking advice nationwide — including people who “aren’t comfortable using a hashtag as well as people who are comfortable using a hashtag.” “We are going to be open to many ideas as we go forward consistent with the theme of democracy,” Lew said. “Our thinking is to select a woman who has played a major role in our history who represents the theme of democracy.”
Treasury Secretary Lew said Thursday, “the primary consideration was the security of the currency — and the $10 bill was next in line for an upgrade.”
Not only was Hamilton the first Treasury Secretary, he was ardently anti-slavery, and arguably one of the nation’s most crucial founding fathers. “An online petition earlier this year urged the administration to replace Jackson with abolitionist Harriet Tubman by 2020, the 100th anniversary of the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote,” wrote USA Today. That would’ve been a noble cause — replacing a pro-slavery wild man with a female abolitionist.
But scrapping Alexander Hamilton? That’s simply poor taste.
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