U.S. military should draft women, too

COMMENTARY
By Eugene Chu

In 1981, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case Rostker v. Goldberg, in which several men sued over alleged gender discrimination because of the male-only Selective Service registration policy. In May 2003, a group of five students (four male, one female), with the help of the ACLU, filed a lawsuit in a U.S. District Court alleging discrimination over the male-only registration policy of the Selective Service. In both cases, the courts decided to uphold the male-only registration Selective Service policy. Though the old and new rulings from the U.S. courts oppose female Selective Service registration, I personally would welcome the idea.

First of all, it is important to understand what the Selective Service is. It’s a civilian U.S. Government agency that collects and stores information on military draft-eligible American men, who are required by law to register. Women, at this time, are exempt from registration. The U.S. military is currently all-volunteer and a draft would only occur if both Congress and the President authorized it. While some people believe the current status quo is fine, we should look at Israel as an example.

Israel, unlike the United States, has a conscripted military which includes both men and women. Admittedly, there are more draft exemptions for Israeli women and they do not serve in direct combat positions. Nevertheless, Israeli women are still required to perform service in the military or a government-approved alternative. While I prefer an all–volunteer military rather than a conscripted one, the United States should consider the Israeli system as an example.

Many critics fear extreme consequences such as immediate conscription of women into direct combat positions, but such fears seem far-fetched in my opinion. The U.S. military is still all–volunteer and the Selective Service is only gathering and storing information on draft-eligible men at the present. Current U.S. military policy prohibits women from serving in direct combat positions.

The only thing I propose is that women simply be included in Selective Service registration. If a male/female U.S. military draft were to ever happen; if drafted men should face the possibility of serving in direct combat positions in the military, I believe that drafted women should at least be serving in non-combat support positions.

Despite turning to an all-volunteer force, the United States has kept the Selective Service as an insurance policy. While the United States still maintains a male-only draft registration, Israel’s mandatory military draft for both men and women is superior in various ways. Though I personally do not believe in peacetime conscription or women in direct combat positions, many people, including myself, believe it is unfair that women are exempt from draft registration simply because of gender. If the U.S. truly wants to show its greatness in gender equality, it should reconsider its Selective Service registration policy.

Eugene Chu is a senior political science major from Arlington.