Utopian Dreaming

People need to see women on our currency

"You can’t be what you can’t see," isn’t just an empty platitude. Visible currency is part of daily life. Children see it, use it, need it, play with it, earn it, save it, spend it, worry about it and hear adults talk about it. The erasure of women from this media is one of the ways that we cultivate visual gender biases that make it possible for the absence of women in the public sphere to be “normal.” People routinely see balance where none exists and think nothing of the near complete absence of women in key areas of the public sphere.

Just because our culture’s education system fails us, generation after generation, doesn’t mean women haven’t always managed to overcome impediments to achieve great things, it just means our cultural influencers ignore women’s accomplishments. It’s a power play, pure and simple. We generally don’t teach children about women, acknowledge the relevance of their labor or give them public recognition. LIKE ON OUR CURRENCY. This is hardly hardly exceptional, however.

Of the 5,193 public, outdoor statues in the United States, a whopping 394 are women.

In Congress’ National Statuary Hall there are 100 statues, 99 of whom are men.

Between 2000-2009, 206 people were honored on postage stamps, less than 25%, women.

Not one national public holiday is named for a woman or recognizes a significant event tied to women’s equality or revolutionary acts.

And then people ask what girls can do to be more confident and overcome their personal insecurities (#30).

Vote for your choice here at Women on 20s.