新美元將出現女性頭像

President Barack Obama has endorsed a young girl's suggestion to feature a woman on printed US currency. But what does it take to get a new face on a $5, or even $50 bill, asks Debbie Siegelbaum.

Betsy Ross, Amelia Earhart, and Rosa Parks could all be contenders for appearing on US currency.

First, it helps to be a titan of American history, like former presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson, or founding fathers Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.

The current Secretary of the Treasury is responsible for selecting the lucky few featured on US bills, and though the bills have been frequently redesigned for security purposes, the famous faces on them have remained the same since 1929.

That's when a special treasury committee selected them due to their "permanent familiarity in the minds of the public", according to the US Department of the Treasury.

Thanks to one 19th Century upstart, one also must be dead to appear on a bill.

"Some lowly clerk put his image on currency during the Civil War," says currency expert Frederick Bart. "People decided he had no right to be there, so that changed our laws forever."

Though acclaimed women such as suffragette Susan B Anthony and Native American guide Sacagawea have appeared alongside men on US coins, only one has ever graced a printed US bill.

That singular honour goes to the nation's first first lady, Martha Washington.

Mrs Washington was featured alone on the face of the $1 silver certificate in 1886. Ten years later, she was moved to the back of the bill and featured next to her husband, George, with the roman numeral I between them.

It may be years until a woman makes it onto a bill again, says Bart. She would have to have a major political impact, such as assuming the presidency, and then die in order to even be considered, he says.

Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, says the time to see women represented on US currency is now. She says abolitionists Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman or politicians Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm already, in a manner of speaking, fit the bill.美國總統奧巴馬採納了一個小女孩的建議，決定將一位女性的頭像印到美元上。黛比·西格爾伯姆（Debbie Siegelbaum）問道：將一個全新的面孔印到5元或50元的鈔票上需要什麼條件。

貝琪·羅斯（Betsy Ross）、阿梅莉亞·瑪麗·埃爾哈特（Amelia Earhart）、羅莎·帕克斯（Rosa Parks）都是出現在美元上的候選人。

首先，它必須是美國曆史上一位成就非凡的人，如美國前總統喬治·華盛頓（George Washington）、亞伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln）、安德魯·傑克遜（Andrew Jackson）或者開國元勳本傑明·富蘭克林（Benjamin Franklin）和亞歷山大·漢密爾頓（Alexander Hamilton）。

時任財政部部長負責選取有幸出現在美元中的人，儘管出於安全的考慮要經常重新設計美元紙幣，但美元上的名人頭像從1929年開始就沒有換過。

美國財政部（the US Department of the Treasury）表示，那時一個特殊的財政委員選擇他們作爲紙幣新頭像的候選人，因爲他們被視爲“永遠爲人們所熟知的人”。

多虧了19世紀那個自命不凡的人，一個人必須是去世之後纔有資格出現在美元上。

貨幣專家弗迪雷克·巴特（Frederick Bart）說道：“在南北戰爭時期，某個低級職員把他們自己的頭像印到鈔票上。人們一致決定他沒有權力這麼做，於是法律永遠被改變。”

儘管呼聲很高的女性如婦女參政權論者蘇珊·B·安東尼（Susan B Anthony）和印第安探險家莎卡嘉微亞（Sacagawea）等都曾隨男性一起出現在美元硬幣上，但她們中只有一個人有幸單獨出現在美元上。

這個人就是美國第一位第一夫人瑪莎·華盛頓（Martha Washington）。

華盛頓夫人的頭像單獨出現在1886年發行的1元銀元券上。10年之後她的頭像被移到了紙幣的背面，和她的丈夫喬治共同出現，他們頭像之間印着羅馬數字1。

巴特說，可能要過很多年以後纔會再次把女性頭像印到美元上。她將需有重大的政治影響力，比如成爲總統，而且她得先去世纔有資格被印到美元上。

國家婦女組織（the National Organization for Women）主席特里·奧尼爾（Terry O'Neill）表示，現在正是再次見到女性出現在美元上的時機。她表示，不妨說，廢奴主義者索潔娜·特魯斯和哈麗特·塔布曼或者政治家貝拉·阿伯格和雪莉·齊澤姆已經很適合出現在美元上了。