--- title: The Back of the Bill Is Like the Back of the Bus for Women description: An advocacy group reveals the letter they recently sent to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew canonical: https://time.com/4292612/women-on-currency/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-13T18:37:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:46.630Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Back of the Bill Is Like the Back of the Bus for Women og:description: An advocacy group reveals the letter they recently sent to Secretary Jack Lew og:url: https://time.com/4292612/women-on-currency/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fa38c0c34ead198/69888f042dce0143e59e8a43/20-dollar-bill-women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2500 og:image:height: 1406 og:image:alt: US twenty dollar bank note, close-up og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Back of the Bill Is Like the Back of the Bus for Women twitter:description: An advocacy group reveals the letter they recently sent to Secretary Jack Lew twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fa38c0c34ead198/69888f042dce0143e59e8a43/20-dollar-bill-women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Back of the Bill Is Like the Back of the Bus for Women > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: The New Face Of The $10 Bill: A Woman [Watch (HLS stream): The New Face Of The $10 Bill: A Woman](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/muDMPb1j.m3u8) (1:47)  _Published 2015-06-18. The U.S. Treasury Department is putting a woman on the redesigned $10 bill that will be put into circulation in 2020._ by [Susan Ades Stone](https://time.com/author/susan-ades-stone/) and [Barbara Ortiz Howard](https://time.com/author/barbara-ortiz-howard/) Apr 13, 2016 6:37 PM UTC  US twenty dollar bank note, close-up (focus on Andrew Jackson) US twenty dollar bank note, close-up (focus on Andrew Jackson) Nick Koudis—Getty Images by [Susan Ades Stone](https://time.com/author/susan-ades-stone/) and [Barbara Ortiz Howard](https://time.com/author/barbara-ortiz-howard/) Apr 13, 2016 6:37 PM UTC Dear Secretary Lew, We have tried over many months to get your attention, most recently in an email two weeks ago, to express our concern that the opportunity to make history with real, meaningful change may be slipping away. We say this not just as Women On 20s, but as representatives of the two million people who have participated in some way in our campaign over the past year. No one is more attuned to the will of the people on this issue than we are. Tens of thousands of people still interact with our website and social media pages on a weekly basis. And barely a day goes by that we do not get a press inquiry seeking our perspective. On the day of your [announcement](http://time.com/3925738/united-states-treasury-women-bill-alexander-hamilton/) last June we similarly had our finger on the nation’s pulse and we sensed right away that the choice of changing only the $10 would draw strong public criticism. Now we see trouble brewing again. After your appearance on Charlie Rose, we carefully parsed your words, and we fear that you believe the public will be satisfied with giving women nothing but a [cameo role on the back of a minor bill](http://time.com/4292049/woman-10-dollar-bill-alexander-hamilton/). It will take a microscope to see who those individuals are, and we’ll be left with another decade or more of woefully inadequate representation of women and their worth. **Read more:** [Harriet Tubman Wins Poll for Woman on $20 Bill](http://time.com/3856138/harriet-tubman-20-bill/) You’re right. Nobody looks at the back of the bill, and that’s not likely to change. A vignette without a woman’s portrait on the front of the bill (even if she must share with Hamilton) will be seen as a token gesture and an affront to Americans of all ages who are expecting you to reveal your choice of a singular woman based on their input. As a friend of ours put it, relegating women to the back of the bill is akin to sending them to the back of the bus. The Rosa Parks analogies are inevitable. Echoing our earlier petitions, we urge you to undertake a SIMULTANEOUS redesign of the $20 bill to send Jackson packing. Not only would it elevate a woman to a highly visible place of respect, it would dovetail perfectly with the growing movement to recast the symbols that define us. While it is wonderful the public has a new appreciation for Hamilton, it is imperative to get back to the celebration of historic women that began a year ago. The decision you make will go down in history one way or another. Instead of doing the bare minimum you can for women, repeating the mistakes of men in power before you, change the course and do something bold. Place a woman prominently on the $10 AND the $20 in time for 2020\. We assure you, no one will criticize you for doing more. **Read more:** [Exclusive: Concern Grows That Hamilton Euphoria Will Push Woman to Back of the $10 Bill](http://time.com/4292049/woman-10-dollar-bill-alexander-hamilton/) We hope you will allow us to come to Washington and give you the benefit of our experience with the public at this critical moment in your decision-making. It’s important if you really want to hear all opinions and not just those of celebrities and the powerful. We represent the real people, who want to be heard. _More than 600,000 people petitioned the Treasury in our 10-week online campaign to choose a replacement for Andrew Jackson on the $20 early last May. Another 60,000 petitioned last September to ask the Treasury to respond to our first petition, and 1,400 people wrote their Senators this spring supporting bills in Congress to change the $20._ ## Transcript So long Alexander Hamilton. Hello Harriet Tubman. For the first time in more than a century the US Treasury Department announced it will feature a woman on its paper currency. A redesign process is already underway to replace the portrait of Alexander Hamilton on the American ten dollar bill. Democracy is the theme for the next redesign series of US notes. Images that capture this theme will be featured on the new $ 10 bill and on future bills. The announcement comes on the heels of a campaign for women on 20s. Since January the group has been working hard to encourage President Obama to force the US treasury to redesign the $ 20 bill with a woman. The group even held a vote to determine which woman should be chosen. And after more than 600, 000 people weighed in, Harriet Tubman was announced as the winner. The Treasury says the $ 10 bill is getting the redesign, instead of the $ 20 bill, because it was already scheduled for one due to its potential to be targeted by counterfeiters. [ MUSIC ] As for which woman will received this honor, it won't necessarily be Tubman. The Treasury has already created the hashtag the new 10. So people can give their opinions on social media. Already people are suggesting Rosa Parks, Sacagawea, and Amelia Earhart. The only requirement is that the woman chosen is no longer living Sorry Beyonce this won't be the first time a woman is featured on US paper currency though. A portrait of Martha Washington was featured on paper bills several times in the 19th century. This redesign doesn't exactly mean Hamilton is going away though. The Washington Post says Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told reporters the treasury is considering putting Hamilton on half the new redesigned bills or even putting him on one side and the chosen woman on the other. We won't be seeing the new $ 10 until 2020. 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