In a similar manner, MacArthur’s third principle, vaguely enjoining that “the feudal system of Japan will cease,” became the basis for detailed provisions guaranteeing representative government and a broad range of civil liberties and human rights. The section enumerating “rights and duties of the people” was, and remains, one of the most liberal guarantees of human rights in the world. Thanks largely to Beate Sirota, it even affirmed “the essential equality of the sexes”—a guarantee not explicitly found in the U.S. Constitution.
