Introduction
For president Obama, public service has been the basis of his life. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that the American people lack adequate opportunity to serve their country even though they may be willing. Therefore, the Obama-Biden campaign plan promised to expand the military and involve the youth in serving at the community level whether as first responders or teachers and at the national level as part of the military (Obama official website 2). This could imply the reactivation of the military draft.
As of Jan. 20, 2005, 16% of active duty military comprised of women, this is about 224,000 women (Blankenship, 40). The 2000 Census estimates that 6.6 million of the 8.5 million health care practitioners, technical and support occupations are women (Vlamos 9). This means that if there is to be a military draft, whether due to the need of health workers, or the already existing and growing numbers of women in the military, women should definitely be included in the draft.
History of the Military Draft
In olden times, while men fought the wars women stayed at home and attended to domestic needs. It is only until the late 20th century that women were allowed to join the military. However, up to date, women are still barred from holding some positions in the military, mostly combat positions (Blankenship 40).
The military draft was initiated to allow the president to register males, but not females, for possible military service. The underlying reason for excluding females was the general assumption that since women could not be involved in combat, and the reason for recruitment was combat, then it followed that they could not be required to register (Brown 1). In 1980, President Carter attempted to reactivate the military draft; he also suggested that Congress amend the Act to allow for women to be enlisted in the military. Congress however did not agree to the latter and women once again were barred from registering in the military (Cornell University Law School website 1).
In Rostker versus Goldberg of 1981, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the practice of registering only males for the draft was constitutional. Goldberg was among several men who had attempted to challenge the gender distinction as unconstitutional. Rostker is the name of the defendant (Cornell University Law School web site 1)
Advantages of drafting
Men who failed to register for the military draft were denied privileges like bursaries, could not take up government jobs and in some cases they were to serve a jail sentence (Brown 1). Enlisting in the military opens up opportunities for career advancements for men and women alike. Also, it gives one a chance to be involved in public service.
Why Women Should Be Drafted
Numbers in the Health Sector
Health care workers formed a large part of the draft to fight the Korean and Vietnam wars between 1950 and 1973 (Vlamos 5). In 1975 with the end of the Vietnam War the draft ended, it was later picked up later by President Carter in 1980. In 1988, the Selective Service System (SSS) was instructed by Congress to start marshalling health care workers for the military in readiness for any military crisis. Figures from the 2000 Census show that 6.6 million out of 8.5 million of health care workers, both medics and paramedics, are women (Vlamos 9). This indeed is an astronomical number! Lew Brodsky, director of congressional and government affairs for the SSS stated that it was virtually impossible to have a military draft for the health work force that excludes women (as quoted by Vlamos 2).
Military Exploits by Women
The famous quote “What a man can do, a woman can do better” reminds me of the story of Dahomey. In West Africa in a city called Benin, the kingdom of Dahomey was ruled by a strong and successful army of women who fought so bravely and ferociously. The French Foreign Legionnaires after seeing them in action were appalled by how they were mightier than the men in their land! (Edgerton, 2)
The number of women in the U.S military is expanding by and large. Whereas traditionally, women’s role was restricted to feeding the soldiers and nursing the wounded, women now are taking up more combatant roles. Data borrowed from Pedergast reveals that while the 1990 Panama invasion involved eight hundred women, 42,782 women fought in the 1991 Operation Desert Storm as part of the army (Weinstein and White XV).
Equality Pleas
Feminists have for a long time fought for “equality” with men in all spheres. Therefore, a possibility of drafting women in the military should be received with shouts of joy from the feminists. Years back, voting was the exclusive privilege of men. When some women activists began campaigning for voting rights for women, not only did they receive criticism from men but also from their fellow women who thought that they were “pushing it too far.”
Thankfully, they did not give up and today it is the unquestionable right of every woman in America to vote. Those against women being drafted have cited reasons such as women’s lack of physical strength in comparison. The case of Nicholson does not support this. Single handedly 21-year-old Jessica Nicholson physically wrestled an Iraqi man at a check point and detained him. She had discovered explosives in his car (Blankenship 40). Nicholson received an Army Commendation Medal.
Rita Simon, a Professor at American University, confessed her hope that radical feminists would jump at the idea of drafting women to the military as this would be a display of equality in action. Simon went further to suggest that this should not be limited to the health care but should extend to all spheres of the military (as quoted in Vlamos 11). Rita comes out strongly as supporting the drafting of females too, though it is hard to ascertain whether she is pro- feminism or is just making a mock at the feminist movement.
Change in War Strategies
The presumed lack of physical strength for combat is what has been largely used to bar women from drafting. Women generally lack upper body strength. However, today’s war has less to do with physical strength and more to do with mental capabilities, of which women can equally compete. Modern technology ensures that hand-to-hand combat is minimal, if any (Weinstein & White 57). However, in the worst case scenario where physical strength has to be heavily relied upon, women have proven able to compete. In a study by the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, it was found that of the 41 women studied 75% of them were found fit for military duties traditionally assigned to males (Weinstein & White 57).
Janie Blankenship talking about the war in Iraq says that the lines are blurred so much so that one can hardly distinguish a combat role from a support role. In the same article, Army Captain Kellie McCoy is quoted telling The New York Daily News how virtually everywhere in Iraq, as long as it’s out of the base camp, is front line and therefore combat (Blankenship, 40).
Elaine Donnelly, who heads the Center for Military Readiness, mentions the case of female truck drivers in Iraq who unintentionally enter into combat with insurgents while going about their support duties. When the situation presents, one has to deal with it (as qtd in Blankenship, 40).
Challenges Faced By Women in the Military
Discrimination
Audrey Kurth Cronin, a professor at Georgetown University notes with enthusiasm the expanding role of women in the military. But he doubts the existence of any positive feelings in the political parts of the divide, mostly among men (Vlamos 4). Cynthia Enloe in her book Does khaki become you narrates how the military is a patriarchal institution run by men to meet the desires of men exclusively. Women only come in as “patch-ups” to meet the other needs that men cannot meet by themselves for example act as prostitutes (Enloe 7). What degradation!
In his book, “Weak Link: The Feminization of The American Military,” Brian Mitchell grossly undermines the potential of women in the military saying that women are less efficient than men in many spheres (Mitchel 1). This is not true as women have consistently proved themselves in history and Mr. Mitchell only has construed facts and opinions on the matter.
Biased Admission to Military Schools
Owing to the long held belief that the military is an exclusive preserve of men, military schools in the United States took a long while to admit women. Virginia Military Institute (one of the late adapters), believing that they were upholding family values, defended their stand before the Supreme Court in January 1996 barring female students from the institution (Weinstein &White 63). Previously in 1994, Shannon Faulkner attempted to gain entry to Citadel by not revealing her gender, upon been discovered her offer was withdrawn on the grounds of “wrong gender.”
This just goes to reveal the gross prejudice against women as concerns the military. Faulkner later contested the withdrawal of offer in court, won the case and was admitted to the 1995 fall class. Faulkner however dropped out later because of the strain caused by the all-masculine institution (Weinstein & white 55).
Sexual Harassment
The infamous Tailhook scandal where over one hundred officers sexually harassed female colleagues but were never convicted is just one of the few we got to hear about. Women in the military are harassed quite often (Hoppen 14). The situation is even worse in the military due to the strict adherence to the chain of command. A woman may have to take orders and still depend on a senior officer who has sexually harassed her thereby worsening her plight.
The military’s cruelty to women extends beyond the confines of the military. There was a song called “Hadji girl” whose lyrics talked about a young girl who was raped by male soldiers. Soon after the release of this song, Steven Green a 21 year old who had been released from the military recently master minded an attack by the military that left a Sunni girl together with her family dead. The cold blood murder of Abir and her family closely mimicked the lyrics of ‘Hadji girl’ (Seelhoff 19).
Jane Hoppen illustrates the complexity of Military sexual trauma by explaining the camaraderie relationship that ideally should be in place in the military. A soldier must trust his or her fellow soldier to guard their back at all times. Now in the event of sexual harassment by a colleague, the offended party’s confidence in the principle of camaraderie is eroded. One is merely held captive by it (14).
Military sexual trauma (MST) thrives because the military is patriarchal in essence. Women in the military are expected to be strong enough to defend themselves because after all how can one be trusted to defend the country as a whole if they cannot defend themselves. There is generally great pressure for women to prove they are able and therefore in the event of sexual assault by male counterparts they may be ashamed to talk about it and seek redress. Then again as earlier mentioned is the issue of chain of command. An assaulted party may be dependent on the assaulter for any form of career progression. So one is left with two awful options; either to surrender and resign from a career they had worked so hard for or to endure the assault and act like it never happened (Hoppen 14).
Conclusion
Twice before in the history of America has the issue of not drafting women to the military been challenged. First there was the 1980 scenario where President Carter asked Congress to amend the Draft Act to allow women to be registered and conscripted, if need arises into the military. When congress declined, the case was taken up by several men including one Robert L. Goldberg and several other men who questioned whether the gender distinction was within the confines of the constitution. This too was overruled by the Supreme Court based on the argument of lack of women’s involvement in combat (Cornell University School of Law website 1).
Later, in 2004, when George Bush was in power and John Kerry, then senator, was seeking presidential office, some teenagers filed a suit seeking the inclusion of females in the draft. On October 5 of that year the Military Draft Bill was overwhelmingly defeated in the House of Representatives in a vote of 402-2, because the key words within the selective service act “male citizen” had been replaced by “Every citizen” thereby implying the inclusion of women in the draft (Brown 1). For the second time the attempt at including women in the military draft had failed.
In the past, the crux of the matter has lied within the word “Combat” that has previously excluded women. However, with the changes in today’s shape and direction of war, combat has lost its essence. Modern technology has done away with fist fights and any form of direct combat in most circumstances of war. Wars are fought with missiles, bombs and nuclear weapons and not spears, fists and stones. Quoting captain McCoy on the Iraq war, he says that it is very hard to draw battle lines as anywhere out of the base camp could be front line and therefore combat (Blankenship, 40).
Figures from the Iraq war support this: As of Jan. 20, 2005, some 33 women soldiers in Iraq and 5 in Afghanistan had been killed while at war. Most likely they had been involved in combat. Also, some 250 women had been wounded in war (Blankenship 40). With the eventual acceptance of women into military schools for military training, women have been able to train and work as effective combat troops in the military. Though women are still restricted from holding certain exalted positions in the military, they are at times called upon to offer leadership and engage in combat in the field when an unforeseen circumstance comes upon them (Enloe 7).
In the Barack Obama and Joe Biden campaign, they passionately talked about inspiring Americans from all walks of life to engage in service. They promised to provide the architecture to help Americans be able to achieve this. Barack Obama and Joe Biden had plans to enlarge the marines by about 27,000 troops and the army by about 65,000 soldiers (Barack Obama website 2). This indeed is a tall order. And with the overwhelming percentage of women in the health sector, they will definitely need to be incorporated into the database to raise such a big number.
The scenario we are dealing with here is a twisted one, whereas twice we have failed in pushing for the inclusion of women in the military draft, we are still very convinced that this time women must be included in the draft if at all the president must activate it. True, times have changed and the mere definition and strategies of war have changed with the times. Women have proven themselves to be competent soldiers and able to endure intense battle.
Moreover, for many years women have campaigned for equal rights with men and America is one nation that boasts of affording equality to its citizens with no regard to gender. So far, we have done well in granting equality to women, therefore the president could only do better by including women in the military draft and history will judge him well for furthering the course of equality for all people.
Works Cited
Blankenship, Janie. “Ever-changing Roles of Women in the Military”. Veterans of Foreign Wars 92. (2005): 40.
Brown, Kanika. “Is America ready to see Women in the Draft?” The Spokesman, Morgan State University. 2004. Web.
Cornell University Law School. “Rotker v. Goldberg.” Cornell University, 2010. Web.
Edgerton, Robert B. Warrior Women: The Amazons of Dahomey and the Nature of War. Boulder: West view Press, 2000.
Enloe, Cynthia. Does Khaki Become You? New York: Photo press, 1983.
Mitchelle, Brian. Weak link: The Feminization of the American Military. New York: Regnery publishers, 1989.
Obama official website. “Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s Plan for Universal Voluntary Citizen Service.” Organizing for America, 2008.
Seelhoff, Cheryl L. Women and the Military: the Rape of the “hadji Girl”. Off Our Backs. 36.2 (2006) 19.
Vlamos, Kelley. “Future Military Draft could include Women.” Foxnews, 2001. Web.
Weinstein, Laurie, and Christie White, eds. Wives and Warriors: Women and the Military in the United State and Canada. Westport: Bergin & Garvey, 1997.