By AUDREN HEDGES DUROY, age 9
PHOTO: Frankieleon/Flickr
In 2020, the U.S. Treasury will print a woman’s face on the new $10 bill.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that either a woman would share the $10 bill with Alexander Hamilton, or two different bills would be released. Senator Hillary Clinton argued that a woman shouldn’t have to share it with a man.
Trailblazers Harriet Tubman, Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks and Betty Ford are just a few of the 33 women nominated for the new bill.
However, some oppose putting an African-American woman such as Tubman or Parks on the bill because of our country’s ongoing struggle with racial inequality. Kirsten West Savali of the Root writes, “That’s not progress. It’s hush money.” Savali argues that placing a black woman on the bill distracts from all the racial tension in the United States.
The American Association of University Women also questioned putting a woman on U.S. currency since women make only 78 percent of what men make and women of color make even less. In this perspective, the change appears hypocritical.
But some feel that putting a woman on the $10 bill is a good start. “That doesn’t mean that putting a woman’s face on the $10 bill will suddenly spawn a new generation of female CEOs and technologists,” explains Issie Lapowsky in an article written for Wired magazine. “But it does mean that the United States is taking a long overdue step toward elevating the lesser told stories of important female leaders, a step that many other countries took long ago.”
