Feminists on the Money
It’s not every day I see a $50 bill. But last week an ATM spat one out at me. I was extremely surprised to see the following three things…
1. A representation of the statue of the Famous Five that can be seen on the Olympic Plaza in Calgary, Alberta, and on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The Famous Five are Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Henrietta Muir Edwards, and Louise McKinney. These women triumphed in the ‘Persons’ Case, one of the most famous cases in Canadian legal history.
2. In the bottom left corner of the back of the $50 note is a depiction of a newspaper headline that reads: “Women are Persons, Les femmes sont des personnes.” This journal tablet represents the newspaper headlines as they appeared on 18 October 1929, and is an enlargement of the newspaper held by Nellie McClung in the statue.
3. A picture of a medallion with the face of Thérèse Casgrain (1896-1981). Thérèse Casgrain from Montréal, is best known as the force behind various social reforms in Canada promoting justice and equality, and as the first woman to head a political party in Quebec (1951). In 1970, she was appointed to the Senate.
Has anybody noticed this before? It seems like a bit of a cheesy “Canadian Heritage” moment but at least its promoting awareness of the feminist struggles in Canadian history. Too bad its on such an inaccessible note.
Check out the Bank of Canada website to get a closer look.
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two comments
I like this currency and I have always liked Candian currency. We probably won't see currency like this in the States for a long time. Susan B. Anthony and Sacajewea were on some coins but the money is all colonial, patriarchal and icky still.
Posted by Cecelia
March 25, 2008, 9:41 AM
Hooray!!!! Feminism has infiltrated capitalism and consumerism!!!!
Well, if they had to depict history on our currency, I'm glad they picked those five at least.
Posted by Irene
March 25, 2008, 3:53 PM
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