Ms. Beate Sirota Gordon appeared before us with a gentle and sweet smile, a figure I had a hard time reconciling with my image of a person responsible for drafting sexual equality into the Japanese Constitution and so significantly impacting the lives of postwar Japanese women. As a member of the Government Section of the occupation GHQ/SCAP (Supreme Commander for Allied Powers) , she took part in the drafting of the so-called MacArthur Draft Constitution, working immediately under Colonel Charles Kades. Had it not been for knowledge of her important role in the promotion of women's rights, the meeting would simply have been a chance to get to know a respectable woman who is familiar with pre-war Japan, the daughter of pianist Leo Sirota. Instead, it was an impressive opportunity to talk to a great historical figure.

Ms. Sirota Gordon was twenty-two years old when she landed at the Atsugi Air Base on December 24, 1945. She had lived in the United States for a period of five years prior to that trip. Her visit coincided with the moment at which the Constitution of Japan was to be revised in preparation for the country's democratization.

While the Japanese government's Constitutional Problem Investigation Committee (Matsumoto Committee) -- headed by Minister of State Mr. Joji Matsumoto -- examined a draft of the new Constitution, several civil groups had formulated and publicized a model Constitution on their own. At this stage, the GHQ/SCAP had little intention of involving itself in the drafting process.

Women's suffrage had been achieved in postwar Japan with the revision of the Election Law of the House of Representatives on November 17, 1945. However, this development did not necessarily mean that the government had a specific interest in promoting women's rights.

Ms. Sirota Gordon's involvement in the drafting process started on February 4, 1946, when the Mainichi Shimbun reported an exclusive story of the draft Constitution prepared by the Matsumoto Committee. The GHQ/SCAP, having noticed that the principles of the Matsumoto Committee were incompatible with its own, started working on a model draft of a democratic constitution to serve as a guide for the Japanese government. The draft was to be completed in one week.

This new work at the Government Section of the GHQ/SCAP was certified as top secret. For this reason, Ms. Sirota Gordon explained, she remained largely silent about the drafting process, even after the GHQ made it public. She was particularly apprehensive of revealing that the clause on women had been drafted by a young woman, as well as that the GHQ had consulted the constitutions of Weimar Germany and the USSR. She thought that these facts, should they be disclosed, might give the conservative movement -- which was already gaining popularity and strength in the 1950s -- the opportunity to make reactionary revisions to the new Constitution.

In the drafting session, Ms. Sirota Gordon tried to include quite detailed provisions, including social security for women. These attempts were made in order to safeguard Japanese women's rights -- which had been largely ignored in the past -- by stipulating specific constitutional rights that the law would have to follow accordingly. The study committee, however, rejected her ideas as being too specific for a constitution and argued that they should be covered by laws instead. Her original provision was simplified to the provision of legal protection for families and marriage, the latter of which was to be based on agreement and cooperation between the sexes. In the end, reference to family was deleted and her draft provision took the present form of Article 24:

Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis.

With regard to choice of spouse, property rights, inheritance, choice of domicile, divorce and other matters pertaining to marriage and the family, laws shall be enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes.

Among the elements of Ms. Sirota Gordon's original draft that were excluded from the final Constitution were certain social provisions to which Japanese women today are still denied easy access: public assistance and protection of pregnant and breast feeding women; free medical care for children; and non- discrimination against children born out-of-wedlock. Ms. Sirota Gordon expressed regret that she had not been more insistent. However, I believe the situation would have been worse had it not been for her knowledge and insights about the realities of Japanese women at that time. Surely, I am not alone in this belief.

Lieutenant Colonel Weed once said that Japanese women "owe a little appreciation" to Ms. Sirota Gordon. During the hour-and-a-half meeting with her, I became convinced of her words. Except for one thing -- the adjective "little" should be deleted.