Women Need to Sign Up for the Draft

I was arguing with someone a while ago about how women should be required to apply for the draft just as men are. He kept asking me, “well, are you going to volunteer?” No, I told him. If I don’t have to be in the draft, then I’m not going to be in it. There, he said, then you don’t want women to be part of the draft.

This is a really stupid argument. In 1872, when Susan B. Anthony was being arrested for attempting to vote, she was asked to come downtown to see the commissioner in order to be arrested. The police thought they could simply tell her to turn herself in; by not arresting her they were patronizing her. They didn’t want to use force on her, and because she was a woman, they didn’t think they would have to. But Anthony demanded that if they were going to arrest her, arrest her as they would a man. Now, did Anthony want to go to jail? Probably not, it doesn’t sound like a very fun place. But the point wasn’t to go to jail in itself, it was to be seen as she was; a strong person with the same capabilities as males; criminal or otherwise.

So many victories of women’s equality seem to have come about not to reinforce that women were as Anthony saw them, strong and capable, but to reinforce the role of women as home keeper and child raiser.  Many people’s reason for wanting women’s suffrage was because they thought the vote would help women represent the needs of the home in government. So it seems in line with that that we haven’t required women to register for the draft yet—this equality isn’t one that has ever coincided with women being home makers. Additionally, it’s likely that this isn’t an equality most women particularly yearn for, and therefore haven’t fought for it.

But women in this country are seen as physically inferior to men—and biologically, men can grow more muscle and are stronger. But does that intrinsically mean that women can’t handle combat? Men who are disabled are required to register for the draft, as are men who are obese and physically unfit to fight in war. In America, one third of adult men are obese, and two thirds are overweight. So while some of these men that are registered in our draft who will go off into the next World War will be fit for the fight, many others, many more than the in first world wars, will be unfit to fight the good fight. So why should healthy women be pardoned from the burden of defending our nation? The women who are healthy and fit would in many cases be more ready for combat than the thousands of men who are overweight, disabled or whatnot.

By not requiring women to register for the draft we are perpetuating the centuries long misconception that women are weak and feeble, that they must stay home as then men go out, and that women must protected by men. So while me as a person don’t want to be required to registered for the draft, me as a woman realizes that by not being required to be registered for the draft, I’m being patronized. Because for as long as women aren’t seen as capable and as strong as they are, we will never be treated with the respect and dignity that we want and that men are given. The draft, of course, is only one step, but it’s a step in the right direction.