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.
Harriet Tubman FTW. American Superwoman.
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.
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.
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
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!
Amelia Earhart gets my vote too.
Virginia Hall
Elizabeth Van Lew
Mary Bowser
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).
Definitely: Kim Kardashian West
Maybe on the back side of the bill.
I strongly suspect it worked the other way as well, if not more so.
Amelia Earhart would be great - I never can figure out where my money went.
We’re going to need a bigger wallet.
Just mentioning that Australia currently features five Australian women on our banknotes, 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, 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.
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.
Really? Harriet Tubmand, Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt didn’t accomplish much with their lives?
Anyone else fancy a shoot-out thread, to determine a champion, à la the Greatest Military Leader elimination game?
If so, keep suggesting new names to consider.