Women would not be drafted because of our Victorian view that women are of more inherent worth than men.
I can see good reasons for keeping women out of the military, the average woman is slower and weaker than the average man with less stamina, a worse aim, less resilient, more susceptible to injury and pain and so on. She is less able is all relevant ways.
However, women are currently allowed into the military, they don’t even have to reach the standards reached by men entering the military meaning which inflates the number of women in the forces while reducing combat effectiveness. So, if women have greater equal opportunity to join the army when they want to be in it they should have at least equal responsibility and obligation to join the military when they don’t want to and to die for their country, their leaders and whatever they’re fighting for. Most of the arguments in this thread apply to keeping women out of the military completely as much as to keeping them out of the draft/selective service. It’s hypocritical to favour women being in the army when they choose to be and only when they choose to be, rights without responsibilities.
The argument that women are needed for giving birth is laughable. Look at the birthrate. We could have twice as many babies with half as many women if that was necessary, and I’m not aware of a war in the modern world that has resulted in half the population of a nation, male, female or total population, being killed. For children and dependant there is no reason they should have their fathers conscripted ahead of their mothers, quite the opposite in fact. In short, we don’t need all these women for reproduction and the relatively small dent even the bloodiest of wars would put in the population could be easily compensated for and women are not need to raise children at all.
Technology doesn’t come into it. If they were desperate enough to conscript they’d probably want more cheaper, which means sacrificing sophistication.
In the event of a war society would have to “trim the fat”, become more efficient. Those in jobs that aren’t vital to society should be those conscripted, who are mostly women. People driving articulated lorries long distances, people keeping the sewers working, doing road works, electricians, plumbers, the police and fire brigade, all mostly male occupations. To put it simple, the only thing womens do better than men are gestate, lactate and give birth. Men are more important to the maintenance and advancement of society while women only donate the next generation to society. The birthrate speaks for itself, women aren’t doing that. Women are more expendable, it’s as simple as that.
Crafter_Man’s post isn’t exactly perfect, but there’s no need to say it’s cretinous, sexist, ill-informed etc… He is partially right in that he cites pregnancy as a problem, which it has been in the American military. Whenever potential combat nears the rate of military pregnancies skyrockets. Obviously, the pregnant women aren’t sent near to combat. Women in the military shouldn’t be allowed to become pregnant, IMHO, they should have to take contraceptives.
susanann, how do you think women are disadvantaged? I can’t see it myself, enlighten us.