Time to put more women on Jamaica’s currency

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I WRITE to salute the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) for the banknotes that were released in the middle of last year. These banknotes are designed so beautifully, they make me feel rich whenever I have a few in my pocket. However, I have one major complaint: of the nine Jamaicans featured on the five banknotes and the four coins, there appears the image of only one ‘degeh degeh’ woman – the great Nanny of the Maroons. Yuh mean to tell me dat since Nanny baan an ded, Jamaica has not produced at least one other great woman whose face could have graced one other banknote or coin? Not even the historically illiterate would believe that. In some cases, some of our male national heroes are featured on both a banknote and a coin!

Who sits on the board of designers of criss Jamaican banknotes? Are there no women among this prestigious group who could have proposed at least one more woman? Has anyone on this venerable board never heard of Louise Bennett or Edna Manley or Portia Simpson Miller? How about women’s rights, anti-racism activist and educator Amy Bailey? How about the first woman member of parliament, the Honourable Iris Collins? Or the first female Cabinet member, the Honourable Rose Leon? Or Edith Dalton-James, educator and founding member of the PNP? Any one of these ladies would make an excellent candidate for either a coin or a banknote.

REDUNDANT CELEBRATIONS

While we should appreciate and celebrate our male heroes and leaders for their contributions to the country they bequeathed to us, there is no reason to have what seems to be exclusionary selection criteria that marginalises Jamaican women from one of our most valuable and visible real estate – our banknotes. Additionally, there is no reason for redundant celebrations of the great men currently featured on the notes, when many of them already have schools, highways, holidays and government buildings named in their honour. Women make up just over 50 per cent of the population. In the education system, according to a recent World Bank report, increasingly, girls and women are enjoying higher educational success than boys and men.

To do better, I urge the BOJ to emulate nations like Australia which feature both men and women on every one of their five banknotes or Sweden’s krona and Scotland’s dollar, which have four each, or Colombia, which features three women on its banknotes. To do better, let us as a nation strike a blow for gender equity by recognising and visibly honouring the social, cultural, political and economic contributions of all Jamaican women by placing more of our female icons on our currency in the near future. Jamaican women should insist on it.

D. MICHAEL BRITTON, PHD