Politico Columnist: Putting a Woman on the $10 Bill is Sexist because No One Uses It

Writing for Politico, Ruth Graham believes that putting a woman on the $10 bill is sexist. Not because it took too long and not because who it will be has not been decided. Instead, Ms. Graham believes that $10 bill is “the money that doesn’t matter,” and putting a woman on it is a slight to females.

Her article, titled “The Trouble with the $10,” Graham took aim at the bill itself.

Graham writes that getting a woman on the $10 seemed like a victory, “But a closer look suggests a less triumphant conclusion. If women are getting a seat at the table, it’s the seat by the dishcart.” Indeed, according to her, “when it comes to everyday money, statistics show that the $10 is about the slightest gesture you could make.”

A woman finally appearing on paper money is “just the latest episode in a long pattern of women getting the least-valuable placements on American currency. The most recent have been the dollar coins featuring Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony… The government never bothered to stop printing the $1 note with George Washington’s portrait, so consumers never needed to switch.”

Who appears on currency today paints a bad picture of America, according to Graham; she writes, “the current field of male faces on our bills says something not terribly flattering about modern American values, and the update is long overdue.”

Furthermore, Graham continues, cash is being phased out of American life and the $10 bill’s change comes with paper money seemingly on its way out.

In the end, though, Graham conceeds that, perhaps, “what’s true for your wallet is true for women: $10 is still better than nothing.”