Woman to be featured to US bank notes

The U.S. 10 dollar bill is getting a facelift ... and when it's done it'll feature a woman's face for the first time in 125 years. While happy with the news, advocates are also frustrated that the government didn't go further. 

"It's been our goal from the beginning to see the face of a woman on our paper currency," explains Susan Ades Stone, the Executive Director of Women on 20s, the advocacy group that has been leading the calls. 

"We are conflicted though, because we really wanted to see that image on the $20 bill, which is used more than any other bill in our everyday interactions ... We want the honour of being on that bill."

We really wanted to see that image on the $20 bill.- Susan Ades Stone, Women on 20s

Another frustration: the still-unnamed woman will share the $10 bill with Alexander Hamilton, whose visage currently resides on the bank note. "We were proposing that this be a celebration of our centennial of women's suffrage in 2020, so it seems kind of odd to have a woman who has so long been denied this kind of respect on our pocket monuments, so to speak, to then have to share the space with a man ... is still not an ideal situation."

The Women on 20s group did an online survey to rank a list of notable women the government should consider for the honour. More than 600,000 people participated, and Harrient Tubman topped the list. The African-American woman was born a slave and went on to become an abolitionist, suffragist, humanitarian, and even a Union spy during the American Civil War. 

Similar campaigns have started here in Canada. We contacted the Bank of Canada, which said no changes are imminent -- as the most recent series of bank notes were only introduced from 2011 to 2013. Its statement said, "Canada's new bank notes focus on the country's spirit of innovation, rather than the contributions of specific individuals." But, it added that the bank will be seeking input from Canadians about images used on the next series of bank notes.