WASHINGTON – It started as a revelation and is now a full-blown movement on social media. Women across the country, including actresses such as Susan Sarandon, are taking selfies with President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill and sharing their photos on social media in support of an effort to put a woman’s face on the bill.
I want to see a woman on the $20 bill. Post your own photo & join me by voting at http://t.co/6aOmF6OfTT #WomenOn20s pic.twitter.com/Zx1leMXSzJ — Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) March 24, 2015
Susan Ades Stone, of Women on the 20s, says founder Barbara Ortiz Howard realized when rifling through her wallet at a coffee shop that there were no women on any U.S. paper money. What she didn’t initially realize was how simple the codes that govern the money are. “It does not have to be a president or a founding father. It can be someone who has done something great and should be recognized,” Ades Stone says. In fact, she says, the qualifications are merely that the person be deceased at least two years, have lived a life of great stature and be recognizable to the public. “The treasury secretary has it within his power to make decisions on redesign,” Ades Stone says. And while Ades Stone says the $20 note is up for redesign to keep up with counterfeiting technology and the U.S. Department of Treasury has allocated the money to pay for that, it’s a lengthy process. “So we’re starting now, and we really believe that this is something the public should be involved in,” she says. On the Women on the 20s website, you can vote for three of your favorite women leaders in American history, including Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Susan B. Anthony. They’re hoping to get one of 16 candidates printed on the $20 bill by 2020, marking the centennial of the women’s suffrage movement.
