One of These Four Women Could be on Your 20 Dollar Bill
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The Women On 20s competition just got real. The movement, which aims to put a historical American female figure's face on the $20 bill by 2020, has narrowed its candidate pool to four women from its original lineup of fifteen. The finalists are Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Wilma Mankiller:
Women On 20s has gathered more than 256,000 votes since the start of the primary round. The group plans to contact President Obama once voting ends and lobby him to put the winning lady's face on the $20 bill. Seventh President Andrew Jackson has graced the front of $20 bills since 1928, so he'll have enjoyed nearly 100 years on our currency by the time Women On 20s plans to replace him. Women On 20s chose 2020 as the year to enact this change as it will mark the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage. According to the Federal Reserve, the planet has more $20 bills than it does humans, so this alteration would convey a strong message of female empowerment to Americans as well as others around the world.
"In the past 48 hours since the final round started, we’ve had 60,000 people cast votes [for the final four] already," Executive Director Susan Ades Stone told ABC News on Wednesday. "Though all these women and many more deserve to be honored, the winner will be a symbol of what we hope are greater things to come."
Last month, the group posted a video of young children expressing confusion over the lack of females on dollar bills:
Once voting is over, Women On 20s hopes to achieve the 100,000 petition signatures needed to compel a response from the White House. The Secretary of Treasury must receive permission from President Obama to make the change. Judging from comments he made last year, he appears open to the idea:
Women On 20s started the process by examining 100 accomplished American women, ultimately winnowing the candidate pool down to fifteen contenders. The top fifteen included Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Alice Paul, and Margaret Sanger, among others. Primary voters had to choose their top three favorites from the roundup of fifteen, and that's how we got to our four finalists.
If you'd like to see one of the four candidates on the $20 bill in five years, cast your vote on Women On 20s.
