In My Honest Opinion... Women Should Be Drafted

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     Should men have to pay taxes? Historically, they are the breadwinners for their families- bringing home money for necessary things like food, shelter, clothing, etc. They have been the ones to protect our country by laying down their lives in countless wars, regardless of their beliefs on the war being fought. Additionally, men are statistically most likely to have a violent crime committed against them- murder, robbery, assault. So, really, it's time for the women to step up and shoulder our share of the burden placed on men.
     Obviously, I'm joking- it is a ridiculous proposition for a whole slew of reasons. That being said, I used the hyperbole to demonstrate how ludicrous it is that the government may implement a law- like the draft- which applies to all of one gender but completely excludes the other. In the world today where women are striving toward equality in things like pay and opportunity, women should also be held responsible for standards that men may be held accountable for. It is not fair to have a law stating that every man must sign up for the draft, but that women don't have to. In the name of feminist equality, women get to see amazing advances, but we also have to shoulder some of the uglier things men have been carrying.
     Besides not being fair, the US birth rate is at an all-time low. In the event of a resource draining war- one that would call for a draft to be implemented- why would we cripple ourselves to only using half of our available population? Currently, only 25% of all men can actually be drafted. The other 75% is exempt mainly due to obesity, mental issues, and other health problems. It makes no sense to handicap ourselves before a war has even started by eliminating half of an able population from selective service.
     Other countries have made great strides toward equality in gender-blind drafts. Israel, for example, requires that both men and women serve in the Isreali Defense Service for around three years. More recently in 2016, Norway implemented a gender-blind draft, meaning that men and women are all grouped together and treated the same after the drafting process. The US has also been making great strides towards this reality. In 2016, the US opened any and all military occupations for women. In the same bill, there was even a clause requiring women to sign up for the draft. This part of the bill was removed before the bill was passed, but this shows that there are steps being taken in the right direction.
     Finally, I'd like to address one of the most prominent arguments against women in the military: women are weaker than men. As much as we can try to claim that women and men are equal, it is biologically false- men are, indeed, stronger than women. That, however, tends to be misleading. Comparing women to men is like comparing apples to oranges- they are fundamentally different. Instead of trying to hold women to men's standards, we should be holding women to their own standard of excellence. Not only does it give us a more realistic look at the good that can come out of this movement, it also gives women their best chance to excel in all aspects.
     At the end of the day, I think the US has been making huge leaps in the right direction, and I hope that women will soon be eligible for compulsory service. There is a whole world of good that can come out of this if only we take the plunge to see it all.
     


List of Resources Utilized

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vio.2017.0016
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/birth-rates-keep-falling-u-s-women-n874966
http://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ib18-14-1.pdf
https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-most-americans-cant-join-the-military-2015-9
https://singjupost.com/obesity-is-a-national-security-issue-lieutenant-general-mark-hertling-at-tedxmidatlantic-2012-transcript/
https://warontherocks.com/2016/06/norways-gender-neutral-draft/
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/us/politics/congress-women-military-draft.html
https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/no-exceptions-decision-open-all-military-positions-women

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