U.S. Treasury: There Will Be A Woman On The $10 Bill

Move over, Alexander Hamilton: Come 2020, the country’s first secretary of the treasury will be sharing the $10 bill with a woman. It will be the first time in more than a century that a woman’s face will appear on American paper currency.

The Treasury Department announced that it’s replacing the main image of its own founder on the $10 bill with a woman, though which woman it will be still has to be determined. Hamilton will still be hanging around, but his image won’t be as prominent as the woman, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The new bill will be released in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

U.S. citizens will get to help choose which historic female should have the honor, with the only requirement being that it can’t be someone living. Names like Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and others have been thrown out in previous discussions to have a woman on the $20 bill, so they’re likely candidates for the job.

“It’s very important to be sending the signal of how important it is to recognize the role that women have played in our national life and in our national history for a very long time, really from the beginning,” Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said. “This is a symbolic representation of that but symbols are important.”

He says he’ll announce a decision later this year, before going into production.

The move to put a woman on the $10 bill instead of the $20 is because, Lew says, the $10 was slated to be the next for a redesign. It’s part of a broader currency redesign the government recommended in 2013 that will include tactile features for the blind and visually impaired.

”While it might not be the twenty dollar bill, make no mistake, this is a historic announcement and a big step forward,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. “Young girls across this country will soon be able to see an inspiring woman on the ten dollar bill who helped shape our country into what is today and know that they too can grow up and do something great for their country.”

Alexander Hamilton to Share Image on $10 Bill With a Woman [Wall Street Journal]

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