Women in the military have made a lot of progress this year. They are now eligible for all combat roles, and various generals have testified in the Senate Armed Services committee that women should also be required to sign up for the military draft. Now the Senate has approved such a measure, and Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, is backing them up.
According to NPR, the Senate voted 85 to 13 to pass a defense authorization bill, which among other provisions, requires women who turn 18 in 2018 and later to register for selective service, more commonly known as the draft.
Admitting women into the draft is far from a done deal, though. The House omitted a similar provision from their own version of the defense authorization bill, necessitating the two bodies to work together to come up with a compromise. In addition, President Obama may just veto the reauthorization bill, if provisions like one prohibiting the closure of an American prison at Guantanamo Bay stays in.
As for what Hillary Clinton thinks, according to the Huffington Post, she voiced her support of including women in the draft moments before the Senate vote. Clinton also supports the fact that the U.S. military continues to be an all-volunteer force, rendering the draft moot at this point:
“I am on record as supporting the all-volunteer military, which I think at this time does serve our country well,” she said. “And I am very committed to supporting and really lifting up the men and women in uniform and their families.”
Perhaps that is her way of saying that there should be gender equality in the military, even when it comes to whether women should be compelled to register for selective service. Yet while this issue is mostly a bipartisan one, there are a few strong opponents, including former presidential candidate and current senator Ted Cruz. The New York Times quotes him as referring to allowing women into the draft as “forcibly conscript[ing] young girls.” He had more to add on Tuesday:
After voting against the bill on Tuesday, Mr. Cruz said in a prepared statement: “I could not in good conscience vote to draft our daughters into the military, sending them off to war and forcing them into combat.”
The implication seems to be that women are unsuited for combat, which is out of step with how the military works in this day and age. One could also argue that Cruz argues for gender inequality as well, but it’s hard to believe that anybody would relish being required to register for the draft, man or woman. It’s a good thing that since 1973, the draft has largely been a relic of our armed forces.
(via NPR, Huffington Post and New York Times)