Understanding Global Cultures

Back Story, Morning Briefing,The New York Times,
Thursday, December 8, 2016

If you look at bank notes across the world, you most often see portraits of men. But images of women are beginning to proliferate.

This year, the U.S. said it would put the abolitionist and former slave Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Argentina added a female guerrilla leader who fought Spanish colonialists on the back of its new 10 peso note. Colombia honored a female painter and an anthropologist.

New Swedish bank notes show the actress Greta Garbo and the Wagnerian soprano Birgit Nilsson. And Scotland selected the novelist Nan Shepherd and Mary Somerville, a trailblazing scientist.

Poland, in a less contemporary choice, selected Dobrawa, a 10th-century Bohemian princess credited with bringing Christianity to her people, for a commemorative note.

Today, Canada will announce the first woman other than royalty to be featured solo on a bank note. A survey conducted in May suggested that Nellie McClung, a women’s rights activist, was the most popular choice, but she is not among the five finalists.

The Toronto Star is rooting for Emily Pauline Johnson, who celebrated her Mohawk heritage in her poetry.

Its editorial, invoking Ms. Johnson’s aboriginal name, concludes: “Ideally, all these women should be featured on bank notes. But if it must be just one, we vote for Tekahionwake.”

Patrick Boehler contributed reporting