Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the features of the sections concerning the equal opportunity of education and the equality of both sexes drafted by Beate Shirota for the human rights articles in the third chapter of the Constitution of Japan.
We investigated the circumstances under which GHQ of the Allied Powers led by the United States had the constitution drafted. Then, we compared Beate Shirota's drafts with its counterparts in the new Constitutions of Germany and Italy, Japan's Axis partners defeated in 1945.
The new Constitutions of Germany and Italy contained the passages similar to Beate Shirota's drafts on Protection of Motherhood, Abolition of Discrimination against Illegitimate Children, and Equality of Both Sexes in Work, all of which were deleted by GHQ from the new Constitution of Japan. On the other hand, the term “individual dignity” included in the passage concerning the “equality in the family... of men and women” included in Beate Shirota's drafts were not found in the two new constitutions; it is to be noted that the term in question represented the negation of Japan's old family system. In this connection, it should be pointed out that Beate Shirota's phrase, “equality in the family... of men and women, ” made its way into the Japan's new constitution as an advanced concept, in fact, more advanced than the United States.
