Re: ERA War and the Draft

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With very rare exceptions, every man residing in the United
States 18 to 26 years of age is required by the Military
Selective Service Act to register with the Selective Service
System, and thereby subject himself to the possibility of
involuntary military service. Yet, on the eve of war with
Iraq, the prosecution of which may require millions of U.S.
military personnel, absolutely no woman in the U.S. is
required to register. This clear fact of gender
discrimination has not been focused upon in public
discussions, I believe, because an active draft has not been
in effect since 1973.

The United States Selective Service System offers on its
Website a short history of the draft with respect to women.
The primary reason given for non-registration of women is a
twenty-year-old Supreme Court decision, Rostker v. Goldberg,
453 U.S. 57 (1981).

Simply stated, this decision says that since all men
registered with the Selective Service are considered combat
replacements, and since Congress forbids women to go into
combat, women should not be registered. Of course, this
reasoning is absolutely absurd, since it presupposes that
every man called for involuntary military service will be
used exclusively for combat, and that no man called will be
used for the approximately 90% of military jobs which are non-
combat related.

Twenty years after Rostker, the Uniformed Military Training
Service Act (H.R. 3598) attempts a draft reformation by
shortening the length of involuntary service, but still
perpetuates gender discrimination by maintaining the
requirement of involuntary service for all males registered
under the Military Selective Service Act and exempting
absolutely all females.

Some questions arise as a result of these blatant facts of
gender discrimination:

1. U.S. women enjoy the same civil rights as U.S. men; they
comprise 50.9% of the population and18.8% of all military
personnel. Why is the pretext of a ridiculous Supreme Court
decision used to exempt the majority of the population from
even the possibility of involuntary military service in any
capacity?

2. Should women be permitted to vote in elections for
candidates who may have to decide on war for our country, in
light of the facts that women will never serve involuntarily
in any military conflict and that even females who do
volunteer for military service are exempted from life
threatening combat jobs?

3. Title IX demands that proportionately gender-equal funds
be used for all school-based activities that receive any
federal funding, including athletics. Many schools have had
to abandon male team sports that earn revenue in excess of
their costs and which aid in the preparation of males for the
teamwork and organization of military service, in order to
provide gender-equal funding for female sports which
perennially lose revenue. Yet there is no requirement for
females to utilize the skills and strengths learned on the
athletic field and the classroom in the military defense of
their country. Should Title IX continue?

4. Do equal civil rights for women obligate women to equal
civil responsibilities?

Re: ERA War and the Draft, 10/14/05, by S.

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