The obvious "woman" piece of currency would be the Sacajawea dollar coin, which has been circulating since 2000. However, even before that both women and minorities have been on currency. In 1886, '91 and '96 Martha Washington appeared on the $1 silver certificate (the one dollar bill) and in more recent memory in the 1980s and 90s Susan B Anthony was on the dollar coin.

The nickel, previously, was three cents, and called a trime. The trime was minted during 1851-1873 in two different compositions. The first was metal was silver, silver being such a valuable and precious made three cents worth a very small amount. People would frequently lose such a small coin. The silver trime's weight was only 0.8 grams and the diameter 14mm. Changes were on the horizon for the coin when congress got and approved a proposal from Joseph Wharton, owner of the majority of nickel mines in the United States. Wharton's proposal called for a larger, thicker trime made of a copper-nickel composition. The new trime was 75% copper and 25% nickel started being produced in 1865. The new copper-nickel trime weighed 1.94 grams and had a diameter of 17.9mm. Later, in 1866, congress then felt comfortable to reintroduce the 5 cent nickel, with the same copper-nickel composition although increasing the diameter to 21.21mm, the weight to 5 grams and thickness to 1.79mm. All of those characteristic are what the current nickel is composed of.