Essay Sample on Women in The Military

Since the 1940s, men have been required to register for the Selective Service in preparation for a potential draft. In recent years, women have been permitted to serve in the military in combat scenarios. Women should be subject to the military draft during wartime as the drafting law is outdated, women have been serving in the military, and it would give women the same obligation as men. 

On September 16, 1940, the president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, signed the Selective Training and Service Act, which provided the legal basis for the United States to draft men into the military. The only update that this act has received since it was passed was in 1941, one year later, which changed the mandatory age from 21 to 45, to 18 to 64 This act has received no changes since that update to the age requirement in 1941(Vergun). When you really think about that for a second you can really see how bizarre that is. This act has not changed in 81 years, yet it affects the majority of men in the USA. Now there is the claim that the draft has not been used since the 1970’s so why even update that which is unused. Well just because we are not currently using the draft does not mean we will never use it in the future. It can be started up once again so why wait to change the act. It is extremely outdated and is limited to the biases in place at the time. Women were looked upon much differently in the 1940s, after all, they only gained the right to vote 20 years prior. So it is no surprise that many of the lawmakers at the time thought to keep women out of the war for rather sexist reasons. At the time women stayed at home to watch the kids and cook. Thankfully that is not how we function anymore. 

Women have served in the military in many capacities since its inception. They have filled various roles over time, but many of them did not include fighting. In earlier wars, they were nurses for the men fighting. Some even became spies, secretaries, telephone operators, and smugglers. Further on they began doing many other jobs during wartime. Some worked in military intelligence, cryptography, and maintenance. Eventually, women got their own branch of the army but that was later disbanded and combined with the regular army to promote equality(U.S. Army). Recently in 2013, the law changed to allow women to be in actual combat roles within the military. This was a huge step for women in the military as they could finally participate in battle. Now that the way has been paved for women to serve combat roles it is more important to have them sign up for the draft. An often brought-up argument for why women shouldn’t be included is because they simply aren’t strong enough for combat. This is blatantly false. And it overlooks all of the other roles both women and men play in the military. There are plenty of non-combative roles available to everyone. If women are drafted they can do whatever role is assigned to them, whether that be combative or non-combative.

Why have only men had to take up the burden of selective service for many decades now but women have been left out? Women can serve in the military with just the same quality as men. For some reason, many people like to say that women won’t know what to do in war but you could say the same thing for men. There are plenty of men that would perform terribly if they were drafted just as there would be women that perform terribly. There would also be those who serve perfectly regardless of their sex. If women are ever to be included in the draft it would help bring together some sort of unity during any potential wartime in the future. It would no longer be just men told that they have to drop everything to fight for their country, both sexes would have to join the fight in unity. This would bolster a sense of togetherness across the board for our nation and land the burden of the fight upon everyone.

Hopefully, this has helped show you some reasons why women should be included in the draft. The Selective Training and Service Act is old and needs to be changed to match the times, women have been serving in the military throughout history, and it would give women the same burden that men have. Women make extraordinary contributions to our nation through the military just the same as men, so why not have them in the draft?