# What famous woman would you like to see on the $20 bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776 "2015-03-23T15:12:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/81 "2015-03-24T03:01:56Z")
All my 20s have Mary Reibey on them. My five has Liz, tenner: Mary Gilmore, 50:Edith Cowan, and should I be so lucky: $100 has Nellie Melba. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/82 "2015-03-24T03:21:50Z")
Harriet Tubman FTW. American Superwoman. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/83 "2015-03-24T03:40:44Z")
Does it have to be an adult? What about Amber Hagerman, whose abduction and murder, led to the creation of the Amber Alert System. As of March, 2015, 745 children have been successfully rescued as a result of the system. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/84 "2015-03-24T04:14:27Z")
From the list: Harriet Tubman or Eleanor Roosevelt. But I really like the Grace Hopper suggestion. My own suggestion: Sandra Day O’Conner. I don’t necessarily agree with her politics or all of her rulings, but I believe that her role as the first female Supreme Court justice broke a lot of ground for American women in politics. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/85 "2015-03-24T04:27:11Z")
O’Connor’s still alive. No way she’s going on U.S. currency now. I like the Adm. Hopper idea; she already has a destroyer named after her: [USS Hopper - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hopper) ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/86 "2015-03-24T04:38:13Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > O’Connor’s still alive. No way she’s going on U.S. currency now. She’ll be 85 on Thursday. May she enjoy a long retirement, but it’s not like it would be a huge shock if she met the “must be dead” qualification by the 2020 goal for putting a woman on US currency! ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/87 "2015-03-24T04:41:05Z")
Amelia Earhart gets my vote too. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/88 "2015-03-24T08:14:14Z")
Virginia Hall ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/89 "2015-03-24T08:33:33Z")
Elizabeth Van Lew Mary Bowser ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/90 "2015-03-24T14:43:44Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > How about a woman who was significant but overshadowed by her husband (whether fairly or unfairly)? Abigail Adams, for example, or Eleanor Roosevelt. I was going to say Abigail Adams. I think she’d be a great choice. The first Second Lady and the second First Lady. She was an advocate for women’s rights and was outspoken against slavery. She was really quite forward thinking for her time, just, as you say, overshadowed by her husband and her son (John and John Q). ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/91 "2015-03-24T15:23:41Z")
Definitely: Kim Kardashian West ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/92 "2015-03-24T15:35:04Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Definitely: Kim Kardashian West Maybe on the back side of the bill. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/93 "2015-03-24T15:50:41Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Eleanor Roosevelt… sorry, would never have done 1/10th of what you did if you hadn’t married Franklin. I strongly suspect it worked the other way as well, if not more so. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/94 "2015-03-24T16:49:21Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > Amelia Earhart gets my vote too. Amelia Earhart would be great - I never can figure out where my money went. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/95 "2015-03-24T17:03:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Maybe on the back side of the bill. We’re going to need a bigger wallet. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/96 "2015-03-24T17:08:50Z")
Just mentioning that Australia currently features five Australian women on [our banknotes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Australian_dollar), as well as the Queen. Also, counting QE2, _all_ of our notes feature a woman on one side and a man on the other. We also put a non-Christian, Jewish Australian [Sir John Monash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Monash), on our hundred. We also invented polymer banknotes, and have been using them for decades. Alongside $1 & $2 coins. And we abolished 1c and 2c coins, and will probably get rid of the 5c at some point in the next decade. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/97 "2015-03-24T17:42:57Z")
Clara Barton is the only one who seems nearly worthy in that she would still be famous and important if she was not a woman. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/98 "2015-03-24T18:29:44Z")
Really? Harriet Tubmand, Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt didn’t accomplish much with their lives? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/99 "2015-03-24T18:47:18Z")
Anyone else fancy a shoot-out thread, to determine a champion, _à la_ the [Greatest Military Leader elimination game](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=574323)? If so, keep suggesting new names to consider. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/100 "2015-03-24T19:00:48Z")
[Harriet Tubman, a true freedom fighter who placed her life on the line for not only a principle but for a basic human right.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman#Scouting_and_the_Combahee_River_Raid) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776.md?page=6)