How Japan's Constitution Got a Women's Rights Clause

The Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University School of Law presents Beate Sirota Gordon, author of the women’s rights clause in Japan’s Constitution, Thur., Sept. 22, 2011. Ms. Gordon will give a public lecture at 5:00; a reception will follow at 6:00.

Ms. Gordon was a member of the 25-member Constitutional Assembly created in Japan in 1946 by General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander in post-World War II Occupied Japan. At the age of 22, Gordon attended a secret meeting between American and Japanese officials about the women’s rights clause she wrote for Japan’s new Constitution, which guarantees women equal rights with men and remains unamended today. Japan’s Constitution also guarantees Japan’s peaceful roles in world affairs and democracy.

The Japanese prime minister's website includes the constitution in English.