A very important time has come.
The Obama administration announced late Wednesday that a woman will be featured on the $10 bill, the first time in over a century a female portrait will make its way on to United States’ paper money, according to The Washington Post.
“America’s currency makes a statement about who we are and what we stand for as a nation,” explained Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who has the authority to make the recent decision.
“This decision of putting a woman on the $10 bill reflects our aspirations for the future as much as a reflection of the past.”
The redesigned $10 bill will be unveiled in 2020, according to the news outlet the CS Monitor. 2020 is an important year, as it also reportedly marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment, which gave American women the right to vote.
Women reportedly hadn’t been recognized on U.S. paper currency since the 1800s, when Martha Washington and Pocahontas graced the $1 silver certificate and $20 note respectively. Currently, Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony are reportedly featured on dollar coins and Hellen Keller on a quarter.
Previous attempts to put women on United States currency was brought to attention with the campaign called “Women on 20s,” which reportedly petitioned for a woman to be featured on the twenty while objecting to Jackson’s enforcement of the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
The campaign reportedly went viral, with more than 600,000 people voting in an online poll for a new image.
Although Jackson will stay on the $20, putting a woman on the $10 bill is a step in the right direction and the “quickest solution,” according to Susan Ades Stone, the group’s executive director.
“It’s been our goal from the beginning to see the face of a woman on paper currency,” said Stone in a phone interview.
“So naturally I”m excited to hear that our mission will be accomplished.”
