I spotted a really interesting analysis of cash and bank notes the other day. For those who follow this blog, you’ll know that I love bank notes. I collect them. Each country has different coloured bank notes with different art on its cash that reflect their ethos and society. In fact, through the years, most cash reflects the history and development of nations. It’s a fascinating area to study and, although I’m not a numismatist, I could easily become one.
Anyways, back to that analysis of cash, it looked at the colour and DNA of bank notes and found one particularly interesting fact:
Queen Elizabeth II may be the most popular figure featured worldwide, but our study revealed a clear lack of gender representation across banknotes, with just 7% of the notes analysed featuring a female figure. In fact, only Jersey, the UK and Denmark have a balanced or female favoured gender profile, with all other currencies predominantly featuring males.
Like everything else in our world, money is tainted and biased. It reflects our machismo and gender, with men dominating. I remember that there was a massive campaign to get a woman on a UK bank note, which succeeded, but you have to ask why?
Well, not really. Like all things, our world is geared towards those who lead and those who lead are generally men.
Anyways, to finish off my series about sexism in the City, here are the key banknotes who feature women.
From Britain, there are three notes of note.
Florence Nightingale
Elizabeth Fry
Jane Austen
Scotland, which issues its own bank notes, also has a number of notable ladies.
Nan Shepherd
Mary Sommerville
Catherine Cranston
Elsie Inglis
| Name | Who are they? | Country |
| Juana Azurduy de Padilla | Military leader during Bolivian war of independence | Argentina |
| María Eva Duarte de Peron | First lady and actress | Argentina |
| Mary Gilmore | Writer and journalist | Australia |
| Nellie Melba | Opera singer | Australia |
| Edith Cowan | First woman to serve as a member of Australian parliament | Australia |
| Mary Reibey | Merchant, shipowner, and trader | Australia |
| Queen Elizabeth II | Monarch | Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom |
| Viola Desmond | Civil rights activist | Canada |
| The Famous Five | Fought to have women considered persons under the law | Canada |
| Gabriela Mistral | First Latin American author to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature | Chile |
| Debora Arango | Artist | Colombia |
| Virginia Gutierrez | Anthropologist | Colombia |
| Bozena Nemcova | Author | Czech Republic |
| Emmy Destinn | Opera Singer | Czech Republic |
| Anna Ancher | Artist | Denmark |
| Johanne Luise Heiberg | Actress | Denmark |
| Karen Blixen | Author | Denmark |
| Mirabal sisters | Three sisters who opposed the Trujillo dictatorship | Dominican Republic |
| Salome Urena de Henriquez | Poet and the founder of women’s higher education in the country | Dominican Republic |
| Tjoet Nja Meuthia | National hero who fought against the Dutch | Indonesia |
| Leah Goldberg | Author | Israel |
| Rachel Bluwstein | Poet | Israel |
| Ichiyo Higuchi | Author | Japan |
| Shin Saimdang | Artist and writer | Korea |
| Frida Khalo | Artist | Mexico |
| Juana Ines de la Cruz | Nun, scholar, and poet | Mexico |
| Kate Sheppard | Prominent member of suffragette movement | New Zealand |
| Ladi Kwali | Potter | Nigeria |
| Saint Rose of Lima | Saint | Peru |
| Corazon Aquino | First woman to be president of the Philippines | Philippines |
| Josefa Llanes Escoda | Founder of the Girl Scouts in the Philippines | Philippines |
| Nan Shepherd | Writer and poet | Scotland |
| Mary Somerville | Science writer and polymath | Scotland |
| Elsie Inglis | Doctor and suffragist | Scotland |
| Astrid Lindgren | Author of Pippi Longstocking | Sweden |
| Birgit Nilsson | Opera Singer | Sweden |
| Greta Garbo | Actress | Sweden |
| Sophie Taeuber-Arp | Artist | Switzerland |
| Fatma Aliye Topuz | Author and women’s rights activist | Turkey |
| Lesia Ukrainka | Author | Ukraine |
| Jane Austen | Author | United Kingdom |
| Josefa Camejo | Venezuelan-independence fighter | Venezuela |
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
