Women in the Selective Service

This was written by Corvin, one of our student interns. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.

Women are wanted in the armed forces. Josh Hawley was one of five senators from the Armed Service Committee that voted against the Senate National Defense Authorization Act. What is the National Defense Authorization Act? Broadly the National Defense Authorization Act is a law that tells the Department of Defense what it’s allowed to do and what policies it’s allowed to set regarding the national guard, military personnel, international programs, civilian personal matters, etc. The main reason that at least two of those senators decided to vote against the bill was that the amendment by the head of the chair would force women to join the Selective Service. 

The Selective Service keeps a list of all people amab (assigned male at birth) between 18 and 25 that get some form of state I.D. and then it would force them into the draft if it was called upon. While the Selective Service isn’t mandatory, somebody that doesn’t sign up could receive up to five years of jail time, a fine of $250,000, or both. Also, if you don’t sign into the program, you aren’t eligible for federal student aid, federal job training, or a federal job. Only the President has the power to call the Selective Service into action, but the last time it was called into action was over 48 years ago. If this bill passed, there would be a one-year buffer until all women 18 to 25 were forced to enter the draft. 

Josh Hawley tweeted his reason for voting against the bill on Friday, 23 2021: “I voted against forcing women to enter the draft, and here’s why,” he wrote on his Twitter. “American women have heroically served in and alongside our fighting forces since our nation’s founding. It’s one thing to allow American women to choose this service, but it’s quite another to force it upon our daughters, sisters and wives. Missourians feel strongly that compelling women to fight our wars is wrong and so do I.” Ignoring the validity of some of Hawley’s claim, he was not alone in his tweets against women in the Selective Service; fellow senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, also shared his dissent. Another vote against this bill was Elizabeth Warren, Democrat from Massachusetts.

Roger Wicker, one of the men who voted against the bill, said, “I support our military’s efforts to offer more opportunities for women who want to volunteer to serve. But when I think of my own daughters and granddaughters, I could not in good conscience support an amendment that would compel their military service.” It would appear that he has no issue sending this country’s sons and husbands into conscripted military service. This argument began to pick up steam in 2015 when women were first allowed to perform “combat” functions.  However, there was no consensus made then because there are still arguments for and against it now.

There have been some Democrats that support the idea, but that has not been matched from across the aisle. Many Republicans are vehemently against sending the country’s women into the draft, saying, “Non-negotiable,” and “you aren’t drafting our daughters.”  

There is a group of politicians that started a push to end the Selective Service, instead of making this a sex debate: Rand Paul, Republican from Kentucky; Rodney Davis, Republican from Illinois; Ron Wyden, and Peter DeFazio, both Democrats from Oregon. They argue that it’s outdated, expensive, and unnecessary. As of 2019, the Selective Service budget was $26.4 million, which for a service that hasn’t been used for 48 years is a large sum of money. Assuming the average budget of the Selective Service was $10 million for those 48 years after being adjusted for inflation, which is a very conservative estimate, the government has spent almost half a billion dollars on the program. 

Now, a question for the reader. What do you think should happen? Should women be included or not, or would it be better to get rid of the draft altogether?