Back Story, Morning Briefing,The New York Times,
Thursday, December 8, 2016
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If you look at bank notes across the world, you most often see portraits of men. But images of women are beginning to proliferate.
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This year, the U.S. said it would put the abolitionist and former slave Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Argentina added a female guerrilla leader who fought Spanish colonialists on the back of its new 10 peso note. Colombia honored a female painter and an anthropologist.
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New Swedish bank notes show the actress Greta Garbo and the Wagnerian soprano Birgit Nilsson. And Scotland selected the novelist Nan Shepherd and Mary Somerville, a trailblazing scientist.
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Poland, in a less contemporary choice, selected Dobrawa, a 10th-century Bohemian princess credited with bringing Christianity to her people, for a commemorative note.
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Today, Canada will announce the first woman other than royalty to be featured solo on a bank note. A survey conducted in May suggested that Nellie McClung, a women’s rights activist, was the most popular choice, but she is not among the five finalists.
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The Toronto Star is rooting for Emily Pauline Johnson, who celebrated her Mohawk heritage in her poetry.
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Its editorial, invoking Ms. Johnson’s aboriginal name, concludes: “Ideally, all these women should be featured on bank notes. But if it must be just one, we vote for Tekahionwake.”
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Patrick Boehler contributed reporting
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Is it Time to Put a Woman on the $20 Bill?
-- The Scout Report, April 24, 2015 -- Volume 21, Number 16, UW Madison
US says woman on new $10 note
-- BBCNews (18 June 2015)
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