Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, announced today (International Women’s Day) that a Canadian woman will be on the next series of bank notes starting in 2018.
"Today, on International Women's Day, the Bank of Canada is taking the first step by launching public consultations to select an iconic Canadian woman to be featured on this new bill,” Trudeau said.
So how does this new progression to gender equality work? Starting today until April 15, Canadians can submit nominations for who they think should be on the bill on the Bank of Canada’s website.
The nominees must be Canadian women, with great achievements in any field, and a record of leadership. After the nomination period, an independent advisory council will review submissions and present a short list to Canada’s Finance Minister, Bill Morneau.
The Canadian bank is even taking this accomplishment to Twitter, encouraging citizens to tweet out their nomination using the hashtag #bankNOTEable.
This isn’t the first time the Liberal Prime Minister has done something great from women. When Trudeau was a candidate for prime minister, he pledged to have women serve in his cabinet. That’s a promise he most definitely kept when he appointed women to 30 spots after being sworn in.
Also, in January of this year, Trudeau attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which he commented on the importance of gender equality and feminism, saying “We shouldn’t be afraid of the word ‘feminist.’ Men and women should use it to describe themselves anytime they want."
Trudeau is scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama in Washington on March 10. Perhaps this new achievement was a snowball effect from the US. Last summer, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced that a women will be on the $10 bill starting in 2020. Similarly, Lew encouraged nominations over twitter with the hashtag #TheNew10.
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