New Film On Beate Sirota Gordon

[Mulboyne]

Beate Sirota Gordon
Kyodo via Yahoo: Struggle for gender equality in Japan depicted in film
A documentary film about an American woman's struggle to achieve gender equality in postwar Japan, sponsored and made by Japanese women, is set to be released next April. The film, "The Gift from Beate," features Beate Sirota Gordon, who drew up Article 24 of the Japanese Constitution, which stipulates the basic equality of the sexes, as a civilian staff member of the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces in 1946. It also focuses on "how Japanese women have made use of Article 24, bestowed by Ms. Beate, to achieve equality at home and in the workplace," said Tomoko Fujiwara, who directed the film after several prominent women, including former education minister Ryoko Akamatsu, raised the money for it. The film will be initially released in Tokyo, and eventually nationwide on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. An English version of the film will be completed soon with the aim of showing it at film festivals abroad. "We hope to show internationally how gender equality has been realized in modern Japan," Fujiwara said.
Profile of Beate Sirota Gordon
Amazon: "The Only Woman in the Room: A Memoir" By Beate Sirota Gordon

[Taro Toporific]

Beate Sirota Gordon
Kyodo via Yahoo: Struggle for gender equality in Japan depicted in film

We've touched on Beate's story a few times before on the FG since she was the one who drafted the women's rights articles of the 1947 Japanese Constitution as a civilian aide to Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
Japan succession law flaunts constitution: Princess Aiko

Published: August 12, 2004 NEW YORK TIMES
To the Editor:
In "A Princess's Distress Pierces Japan's Veil of Secrecy" (news article, Aug. 7), you say: "In 2001, Princess Masako gave birth to a girl, Aiko, who according to law cannot ascend the throne."
In fact, there have been a number of Japanese empresses in Japanese history. But the 1889 Meiji Constitution ignored tradition and limited the throne to "male descendants." The 1947 Japanese Constitution states: "Laws shall be enacted from the standpoint of the essential equality of the sexes," and prohibits discrimination in political matters based on gender.
In 1948 the Japanese Parliament passed the Imperial House Law, which flouted the new Constitution and restricted the throne to "male offspring." Among Japanese legal scholars and elected officials, the law is widely considered unconstitutional. Princess Aiko has full rights to the throne.
Beate Sirota Gordon
New York, Aug. 7, 2004
The writer, a civilian aide to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, drafted the women's rights articles of the 1947 Japanese Constitution.