# Why only men get drafted for war? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 21, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639 "2003-02-21T21:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![superkentclark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@superkentclark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superkentclark)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/1 "2003-02-21T21:40:46Z")
How come in America are men and women considered equal, but when it comes down to it the laws distinctly favor women? For example, womne have equal rights in practically every desirable area, but they do not get drafted. Why is it that women do not get drafted? Someone please indulge me! ---
**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/2 "2003-02-21T21:44:33Z")
This is teetering on IMHO, but that’s up for a mod to decide and I couldn’t care less. Anyway, I just wanted to comment that it’s an incredibly sexist act and I am strongly opposed to the draft. Ironically enough, I just registered for the selective service a few days ago (woo). What bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/3 "2003-02-21T22:08:50Z")
It is arguable that women are not as good at war as men are. Very broadly speaking men are stronger than women and are more aggressive than women…just the sort of thing you want in your warriors. That said I think it is more about old fashioned notions. It is bad enough seeing men killed and tortured but I believe the US population would have a more visceral reaction to seeing its women raped and killed. Add to that potential problems among the ranks if men start making decisions on who to save, who to send in harms way and so on based upon sex. When it’s just a bunch of men you point at a few and tell them what needs doing and be done with it. Unfair and sexist? Maybe. Reality? Definitely. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/4 "2003-02-21T22:13:15Z")
Women go into the Armed Forces all the time. I think women SHOULD be drafted as well…they could make it a rule women don’t have to go to combat areas, but if they are going to draft men (who don’t want to go) then they should damn well draft women (who don’t want to go either). I am sure there are enough military positions available in the continental USA that women could do equally well, if not better, than men. ---
**Author:** ![Monkeypants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Monkeypants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkeypants)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/5 "2003-02-21T22:22:41Z")
WAG – an imminent war doesn’t increase the need for non-combat personnel as quickly as it increases the need for combat personnel. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/6 "2003-02-21T22:24:46Z")
I know news takes a while to reach ignoramus USA so let me bring you up to date. The draft ended about 1973. So neither men nor women in the US have been drafted for nearly a generation. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/7 "2003-02-21T22:25:31Z")
I remember something about chasing giraffes and wallowing in mud. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/8 "2003-02-21T22:33:38Z")
I don’t know if what I’m about to suggest has any bearing on our notions of protecting women from things such as war but in a very real sense women are more valuable than men. I do not intend this to be offensive to women at all but in a very clinical sense they are the baby factories and traditionally the ones who raise the children. Men are far more disposable in this regard. A single male could theoretically impregnate hundreds of women. If it looks like your population is going to be seriously thinned in a war it is better to have more women left at the end to ensure there are future generations to be had. I mention this only as a thought as to why there is a deep seated feeling to protect women and keep them away from things like war even in a supposedly ‘equal’ society where they should theoretically slog it out in the mud next to the men. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/9 "2003-02-21T22:36:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aahala \* > \*\*I know news takes a while to reach ignoramus USA so let me bring you up to date. The draft ended about 1973. So neither men nor women in the US have been drafted for nearly a generation. \*\* True but males in the US are required to register for the Selective Service…women are not. Should a draft be reinstated men will be called…women probably will not. Finally, when the draft did exist, men were drafted and women were not. I think it is fairly safe to say, as a point of discussion, that in the US men get drafted and women do not. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/10 "2003-02-21T22:39:56Z")
Until recently, only men could join the US armed forces, and until really recently (and maybe this is still true, but I know they were talking about changing it), only men could serve in combat roles in the US armed forces. So when the draft existed, it existed in a society that said that the military was a masculine occupation, and therefore the draft laws were written to reflect that. The same is true of Selective Service Registration. If the draft laws were written today, it’s possible that everyone, male or female, could be drafted, but maybe not, because the belief that the military is “men only” still exists in the society. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/11 "2003-02-21T22:42:55Z")
The day women are drafted is the day the administration in power can begin counting down its remaining days in power. People can talk a good game about sexual parity and equality, but the day young Heather, Melissa, Susan or Anne are yanked from their teenaged or 20 something daily lives and deliberately put in harms way is going to be a wake up call. Most (not all) young men and their families will accept being drafted because there is a social precedence and a history of men being recuited for war. The same is not true for females. Women (on average) would not be as readily adaptable to the physical rigors of battle, would more than likely not form or establish the same strong fighting unit cohesion as men do, and would be less likely to go running into harms way just because the Sarge said so. Beyond all this, the first time a female patrol is captured and subjected to multiple brutal rapes by the enemy, and this story comes back home it will have the military re-thinking it’s draft policy very quickly. It is certain there are some women who have the physical gifts and mental attitude to be superb combat soliders, and could out run and out gun 99% of the men out there, but they would not be the norm. Unless you had some system where these women were the only ones selected for field combat, a draft that pulled all able bodied young women in for military service is likely to be difficult to maintain. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/12 "2003-02-21T22:43:14Z")
First of all, there is NOTHING in U.S. law that says men and women are equal. It was tried, and the ERA was defeated. Other than a few statutes requiring certain equal facilities, and a few rulings striking down pointless and unjustifiable discrimination, sex is not a “suspect classification.” Second, the Supreme court has ruled that the difference between men and women is real, that the fraction of women suitable for combat is very small, and that the government is therefore justified in restricting the draft to men. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/13 "2003-02-21T22:53:53Z")
As **Nametag** pointed out, women don’t have to register for the draft because the Supreme Court said so: [From the Selective Service system website](http://www.sss.gov/wmbkgr.htm): > [@](#): > > \*\*The exclusion of women from the registration process was challenged in the courts. A lawsuit brought by several men resulted in a 1980 U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania decision that the MSSA’s gender-based discrimination violated the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, and the District Court enjoined registration under the Act. Upon direct appeal, in the case of Rostker v. Goldberg, 453 U.S. 57 (1981), the Supreme Court reversed the District Court decision and upheld the constitutionality of the exclusion, ruling that there was no violation of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. > > The Supreme Court based its decision largely on DOD’s policy that excluded women from combat. The Court reasoned that since the purpose of registration was to create a pool of potential inductees for combat, males and females could be treated differently. The Court also noted its inclination to defer to Congress since draft registration requirements are enacted by Congress under its constitutional authority to raise armies and navies, and observed that Congress had in 1980 considered but rejected a proposal to expand registration to women.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/14 "2003-02-21T22:58:58Z")
I think that recruitment should be equal. The physiological difference between men and women would be greatly diminished because of the increasingly advanced weaponry and the use of it. Precision, not strength, would be more important in a battlefield with the use of machine guns and such. And missiles and bombs make the difference nonexistent. ---
**Author:** ![TearsOfGlass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9c0ed/32.png) [@TearsOfGlass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TearsOfGlass)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/15 "2003-02-21T23:05:14Z")
I think that war is stupid in the first place and should never take place, thus defeating the need for any type of draft. In the end though, it just comes down to the fact that men still think that women are weaker then them by nature. Load of shit, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/16 "2003-02-21T23:05:51Z")
Wasn’t a significant proportion of the Soviet army at the end of WWII women? (10% or something?) Wasn’t one of the top Soviet snipers a woman? ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/17 "2003-02-22T00:28:45Z")
TearsofGlass, by nature, women ARE weaker than men on average. Sorry if you feel biology is a load of shit. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/18 "2003-02-22T00:50:25Z")
My grandma was a lieutenant. Her job was to be on the lookout for enemy planes. ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/19 "2003-02-22T01:06:03Z")
The average person would make a sucky soldier. Should we not recruit from the pool of people, then? ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639/20 "2003-02-22T01:11:59Z")
'zactly [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-men-get-drafted-for-war/156639.md?page=2)