Romania to Put First Woman on Banknote Since Fall of Communism

(Bloomberg) -- Romania will put a World War I heroine on a new 20 lei ($4.5) banknote, the first time a woman will be featured since communism fell here in 1989.

The central bank, which has no women on its decision-making board, said it was time to embrace the diversity.

The banknote featuring Ecaterina Teodoroiu, the country’s first female officer to have engaged in World War I combat, will be in circulation from December, central bank Governor Mugur Isarescu told reporters on Friday.  

Romania, a 19 million member of the European Union since 2007, lags behind other bloc nations in appointing women to public posts. The current government includes only one female member. 

The decision is the central bank’s response to the “growing public interest toward promoting gender equality and the important role that women had in the country’s history,” said Isarescu, the world’s currently longest-serving central bank chief. 

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