“着名很少很重要，重要的是很少有名，”作者Jeff Gottesfeld说No Steps Behind— a children’s book about real-lifeJewish feministBeate Sirota Gordon。戈登，在1923年在维也纳到俄罗斯犹太父母的戈登，她帮助写作时只有22岁妇女权利进入日本现代宪法。
GOTTESFELD呼叫戈登“20世纪最重要的女权主义者，你可能从未听说过。“借鉴她的价值观，她对日语和文化的知识，以及她在1946年，戈登的知识，戈登发现了自己唯一的女人”在它发生的房间里“ - 在这种情况下，美国官员，由一般领导的美国官员Douglas Macarthur, rewrote Japan’s constitution as part ofpost-WWIIdemocratic reforms.
Gottesfeld - 一个作家numerous books和电视脚本 - 在阅读后戈登的故事深受搬迁her obituary在里面纽约时报在2013年。虽然他知道将她的故事传达给年轻的观众是一项挑战，但是，这是我遇到的最鼓舞人心，最不可能的故事，“他说。“这是关于像他们这样的年轻人如何通过生活的疯狂和意想不到的变化，坚持到重要的事情，然后为别人的缘故做出惊人，而不是她自己的自我重要性。”
“Beate 5 and half years old with Kosaku Yamada in 1929” via Beate Sirota Gordon Photo Gallery
Gordon spent most of her childhood in Japan, and had a deep understanding of Japanese language and culture. Her family moved there when she was 5, when her pianist father, Leo Sirota, was offered a position in Tokyo. Nicole Gordon, Beate’s daughter, who is a lawyer and the director of the Executive Masters Program in Public Administration at Baruch College, told Kveller that Sirota was offered a similar positionin Austria, on the condition that he converted to Christianity. He declined.
Nicole Gordon says that her mother’s childhood was unique compared to other European expats living in Japan. While most foreign families kept to themselves, Gordon was encouraged by her mother, Augustine, to play with and visit the homes of Japanese friends. This intimate exposure to日本文化and traditions is what opened Gordon’s eyes to the inequities between men and women. As Nicole notes, women would eat their meals in another room, and they were supposed to walk “three steps behind” men. (That idea is referenced in Gottesfeld’s book’s title,No Steps Behind。）
妮可说，她的母亲被母亲鼓励了“成为一个独立的思想家，即使当时没有鼓励女性。”如果他们通过东京，奥古斯丁还将邀请欧洲的游客到他们家中，让Beate一场圆满的差异视角women’s roles在欧洲和亚洲文化中。
“在1933年的Sirotas House派对”通过Beate Sirota Gordon Photo Gallery
Gordon attended a German school in Japan until the rise of Nazism made it unsafe for her to attend as a Jewish girl. As Nicole recounts, one day, one of her mom’s closest friends suddenly stopped speaking to her, ignoring her as they passed each other on the street — the Naziantisemitism that在轴的力量中冉冉猖獗融入了日本。1939年，戈登离开了日本，并在加利福尼亚州注册了米尔斯学院。由于WWII肆虐和美国和日本成为苦敌人，戈登多年来没有与家人联系。
Panicked about her parents’ fate after the American nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Gordon, who had become a naturalized American citizen, begged the U.S. military for a job in Tokyo. Thanks to her fluency in Japanese, she was hired as a researcher and interpreter for the American military. After many days spent searching among the devastated and altered surroundings, she was reunited with her parents.
Eventually, General MacArthur asked Gordon to assist with the American military’s draft of the modern Japanese constitution. While there, she used her voice to advocatefor women’s rights. She added the clause that, according to the纽约时报, “gave women a set of legal rights pertaining to marriage, divorce, property, and inheritance that they had long been without in Japan’s feudal society — had an effect on their status that endures to this day.”
“Beate at Mills College in 1941, seventeen years old” via Beate Sirota Gordon Photo Gallery.
Yes, it was an incredible achievement. Though some critics may regard her actions aswhite saviorism,Gottesfeld，为他的部分推动了这个想法。他指出，“她没有自我。”戈登最终返回美国，他在邮颤日本举办了美国军队的另一个犹太翻译耶和华戈登约瑟夫·戈登;他们的婚礼是在纽约市的寺庙埃米瓦尔。这对夫妇有两个孩子：妮可和杰弗里。
据纽约时报介绍，日本妇女不了解戈登在宪法中的作用直到20世纪80年代中期, when Gordon began talking about her experience publicly. Gordon published an autobiography in Japanese in 1995, and soon after, she became a celebrity in Japan. In 1998, Gordon received a gift of the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese government, upon which there were parades in her honor.
Gottesfeld sees a very Jewish narrative in Gordon’s story. While the family was secular, he says that犹太价值观greatly informed their choices. Gordon’s work demonstrates she was “clearly committed to Jewish principles of repairing the world and opening one’s heart to strangers,” he says.
Gottesfeld, though he may be biased, adds that Gordon’s story isgreat for kids因为它是“分辨dibly inspiring.” In these times, where so much is uncertain and out of our control, it’s important to remember how much impact one person’s good intentions, when in the right place and the right time can positively change the world.
Check outNo Steps Behindon Amazon here.
Header image via theBeate Sirota照片库, “Beate at American Japanese Festival in 1938”
