Should Women Be Drafted

On February 24, a federal judge in Texas ruled it is unconstitutional to include only men in selective service. In the past, the argument against including women in the draft has been that women are ineligible for combat roles. In 2016, all roles in the military became open to women. This decision brought up the question of women in the draft for the second time since the 1981 Rostker v. Goldberg case.

The selective service system has been undergoing scrutiny from an 11 member house committee since 2016. Important questions about the future of draft are being considered, such as: should certain specialities be targeted? Should women be included? And, should there even be a draft? For the most part, no decisions have been made on the part of the committee making this court decision even more interesting.

The future of this decision is unknown for the large part. At the end of the day, Congress or the Supreme Court will need to be the ones to make a change to the Selective Service System. This court case certainly brings a more urgent call to action to lawmakers.

As a male in the US, I will be required to register for the draft when I turn 18. Personally, I don’t have an issue with that. I accept that in dire straights, I may need to do my part to protect my country and its interests. I also support women being able to enter any role in the military they choose when they enlist and qualify with the same standards as men.

However, I do not believe women should be required to register for the draft. Women are capable of being as combat effective as men, if they volunteer; but in a draft scenario, I believe more men in the US would be ready to go into a combat role.

Using mile run times as a marker for general endurance and bench press weight for general strength, it is clear men are more suited for combat. According to StrengthLevel.com, the average healthy adult woman in the US can bench press 75-105 lbs whereas men of the same health and age can bench press somewhere between 140-180 lbs on average. According to Healthline, the average mile run time for women in the 20-25 age group is 11:44, and 9:30 for men. In everyday life, these numbers don’t mean anything, but when it comes to military service they are much more important. In a combat environment, being able to carry more weight or keep going for longer can decide the outcome of an engagement.

People who support women being included in the draft argue that a larger draft pool would decrease the number of men drafted. However, including women in the draft might actually end up making it even worse for men. With the way drafts have worked in the past, a number of the men that are drafted never actually go overseas. However, knowing that women may not be as well-suited for combat roles against their will, it’s likely many of the non-combat draft jobs will end up going to women.

Going forward, the future of selective service is very unclear. This most recent court decision is far from any actual change, and because the Supreme Court has already seen a similar case, they may not take another case on the same topic. As a nation, we will have to think deeply about the nature of the draft due to the uncertain state of current global politics.

By Jake Bogartz