Re: ERA War and the Draft

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On 10/18/01, Chet wrote:
> Where does Selective Service [the Draft] stand in respect
> the ERA. Will women be drafted? Now they are not subject to
> register. As soon as a boy turns 18 he gets a notice that
> its a crime to fail to register.

The Military Selective Service Act, 50 USC Sec. 451, requires
virtually all men, ages 18 through 25, to register through
the Selective Service registration process. In 1973, the Act
was amended to preclude conscription and in 1975 Registration
for the Draft was discontinued by Presidential Proclamation.
In 1980, in response to the situation in Iraq, registration
under the Act was reactivated at the request of then
President Jummy Carter. At the same time Presendent Carter
requested reactivation of the Act's registration
requirements, he also asked Congress to amend the Act to
provide for the registration and potential conscription of
women.

Congress declined to amend the act to include women, but did
reactive the registration obligation for young men. In
reaching this conclusion, Congress relied on the fact that
women were excluded from serving in combat roles in every
branch of the service as that time in history. Since the
purpose of registration was to maintain a pool of potential
soldiers who could be conscripted for combat in the event of
national need, the fact that women were not allowed to serve
in combat roles led Congress to conclude their was no reason
to have women register.

In Rostker v. Goldberg, 453 U.S. 57 (1981), a group of young
men challenged the reactivated Selective Service registration
law, arguing that its exclusion of women violated their due
process rights under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. The trial court agreed, but the U.S. Supreme
Court reversed the trial court's decision and held that the
exclusion of women from the Selective Service registration
requirements was justified because men and women were not
similarly situated in regards to military service since women
are excluded from combat service.

At President Clinton's request, the Department of Defense
reviewed this issue again in 1994. The DoD noted that
America's prior drafts were used to supply adequate numbers
of Army ground combat troops. Because women are excluded by
policy from front line combat positions, excluding them from
the draft process remained justifiable in the DoD's view. The
DoD recognized, however, that policies regarding women need
to be reviewed periodically because the role of women in the
military continues to expand.

Although not subject to the registration and potential
conscription requirements of the Selective Service Act, women
have voluntarily served in the U.S. military since the
Revolutionary War. The Women's Armed Services Integration
Act, passed in 1948, authorized regular and reserve status
for women in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
Before then, and except for nurses, women could not serve in
the regular armed forces in peacetime. By the end of the 20th
century, about 200,000 women were serving in on active duty,
accounting for approximately 14 percent of our armed force.
Another near quarter million women serve in the reserve
components, comprising about 15 percent of their strength.
The DoD report recognized the vastly increased role being
played by women in each of the Armed Services who, in Fiscal
Year 1994, comprised 16 percent of recruits. "Because of this
change in the makeup of the Armed Forces," the report
observed, "much of the congressional debate which, in the
court’s opinion [in Rostker], provided adequate congressional
scrutiny of the issue...(in 1981) would be inappropriate
today." The DOD review concluded "the success of the military
will increasingly depend upon the participation of women."

The Equal Rights Amendment was first proposed in 1923.
Although it was never ratified by the requisite number of
states (38), it was ratified by 35 states and has been has
been reintroduced into every Congress since its June 30,
1982 ratification deadline. The ERA states simply:

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on
account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by
appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after
the date of ratification.

Whether the eventual passage of the ERA will provide a
constitutional basis for requiring equality of treatment
between men and women with regards to the Selective Service
act's registration and potential conscription provisions
remains to be seen.

I served in the Army 1981-1984. Women I met in the military
wanted equality and very much wanted the opportunity to serve
in all military occupations, including combat. Female
soldiers not only share patriotism with their male
counterparts, they also share career aspirations which are
often significantly impeded by their exclusion from combat
assignments.

As a woman, an Army veteran, and an attorney, I support the
passage of the Equal Rights Amendment; I support an amendment
to the Selective Service Act to require the registration and
potential conscription of women along with their male peers;
and I support an end to the DoD exclusion of women from
combat occupations. Soldiers, whether male or female, should
be judged on their abilities, not their gender.

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

Equal Rights Chatboard

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