Will the 20-Dollar Bill Get a Female Face-Lift?

Do you know whose face graces all seven denominations of U.S. paper currency? What about the $500, $1000, $5000 and $10,000, all bills that have been printed in the past?

Here's the short answer: dead men.

Two U.S. lawmakers, and a host of advocates across the country, are working to change that. This past week U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez and U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen introduced bills that would direct the U.S. Treasury Department to select a famous American woman to replace Andrew Jackson as the face of the $20 bill. "If this is a country that truly believes in equality, it is time to put our money where our mouths are, literally, and express that sense of justice and fairness on the most widely used bill in circulation," said Gutiérrez.

Why now?

On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified and gave women the right to vote — a right known as woman suffrage. The demand for the right to vote was the centerpiece of the women's rights movement and achieving this milestone required a difficult, seven-decade struggle in which supporters marched, lobbied, wrote and practiced civil disobedience. At the time of its passage, it was considered a radical change of the Constitution.

In five years, our country will celebrate the centennial of this victory and a grassroots organization called Women On 20s hopes to generate an overwhelming people's mandate for a new $20 bill to be issued in time for it. The group has asked their website visitors to vote on the female historical figure they would like to see on the 20, beginning with a list of 100 candidates. Today, that list has been narrowed down to four American-hero women: Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller.

Wait, aren't women already on money?

Currently, there are no women on U.S. paper currency. Susan B. Anthony, our nation's most famous suffragist, became the first woman to have her image on an American coin (not counting Lady Liberty) in 1978. The Susan B. Anthony one-dollar coin replaced the large Eisenhower one-dollar coin. It didn't take long for the public to get frustrated with this new coin that was easily mistaken for a quarter.

With fewer than 800 million minted, Congress decided to replace the Susan B. Anthony with a gold-colored dollar coin depicting another legendary woman, Lewis & Clark's Shoshone Indian guide Sacajawea. This one, too, proved unpopular and usage of both coins is mostly limited to vending machines.

What's wrong with Andrew Jackson?

It is not a coincidence that Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller is a finalist. Some would consider it poetic justice to have a Cherokee Native American replace the seventh president of the United States, the man who authorized the Indian Removal Act of 1803 and displaced Native American tribes to make more room for white Europeans — by force, and with loss of life due to disease and starvation, thus the better-known name for the relocation: The Trail of Tears.

Moreover, noted as he was for his military successes and for establishing the Democratic Party, Jackson opposed centralized banking and favored silver and gold coins over paper currency, making him for many an ironic choice for portraiture on our money.

Where I stand

I consider myself a modern woman, I'm a female professional in a male-dominated industry and I'm grateful for all the women trailblazers that came before me. But to be honest, I've never before given much thought to why women aren't represented on our paper currency. During my career, I've been far more concerned about women's representation in leadership roles, in both politics and corporate America, and in how I personally performed.

I applaud the work of this movement for whatever success it may have in empowering women. But I also entreat every woman to do their individual work, whatever it is, as excellently as possible. Because there's power and pride in that, too.

As the famed feminist Gloria Steinem once said, "The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving." If you'd like to learn more about this movement, visit www.womenon20s.org.

Phoebe Venable, chartered financial analyst, is President & COO of CapWealth Advisors LLC. Her column on women, families and building wealth appears each Saturday in The Tennessean.