女性頭像將出現(xiàn)在新美元上

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(tǒng)奧巴馬采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元的鈔票上需要什么條件。

貝琪·羅斯(Betsy Ross)、阿梅莉亞·瑪麗·埃爾哈特(Amelia Earhart)、羅莎·帕克

(Rosa Parks)都是出現(xiàn)在美元上的候選人。

首先，它必須是美國歷史上一位成就非凡的人，如美國前總統(tǒng)喬治·華盛頓(George Washington)、亞伯拉罕·林肯(Abraham Lincoln)、安德魯·杰克遜(Andrew Jackson)或者開國元勛本杰明·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(fù)責(zé)選取有幸出現(xiàn)在美元中的人，盡管出于安全的考慮要經(jīng)常重新設(shè)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為紙幣新頭像的候選人，因為他們被視為“永遠(yuǎn)為人們所熟知的人”。

多虧了19世紀(jì)那個自命不凡的人，一個人必須是去世之后才有資格出現(xiàn)在美元上。

貨幣專家弗迪雷克·巴特(Frederick Bart)說道：“在南北戰(zhàn)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(quán)力這么做，于是法律永遠(yuǎn)被改變。”

盡管呼聲很高的女性如婦女參政權(quán)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(xiàn)在美元硬幣上，但她們中只有一個人有幸單獨出現(xiàn)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(xiàn)在1886年發(fā)行的1元銀元券上。10年之后她的頭像被移到了紙幣的背面，和她的丈夫喬治共同出現(xiàn)，他們頭像之間印著羅馬數(shù)字1。

巴特說，可能要過很多年以后才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，比如成為總統(tǒng)，而且她得先去世才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(xiàn)在正是再次見到女性出現(xiàn)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(jīng)很適合出現(xiàn)在美元上了。