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News
UA women disagree on proposed war draft


Photo
EVAN CARAVELLI/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Kara Karlson, veterinary sciences junior, and member of Independent Women at the UA, stands outside the ROTC building yesterday.
By Jessica Lee
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, May 5, 2004
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In the midst of the war on terrorism and the resistance in Iraq, the debate over reinstating the military draft and adding female conscription is re-igniting.

Registering women is one of several changes to the draft plan proposed by the Selective Service System's chief, Lewis Brodsky.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has recently introduced a bill that would reinstate the draft. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., has introduced a corresponding bill in the Senate.

While U.S. officials have said resurrecting the draft is highly unlikely, the topic of requiring women to sign up with the Selective Service System drew mixed feelings across campus.

"If the draft is to be reinstated, women as well as men should be eligible for the draft on the grounds of equity, responsibility and morality, as well as rights and privileges," said Sarah Deutsch, interim head of the department of women's studies.

Others, such as Kara Karlson, a veterinary science junior, think women should not be drafted due to physical differences.

"While, legally, men and women are equal in relatively stable and calm American society, war is completely different," said Karlson, who is involved in the Independent Women at the UA club. "In almost all cases, if women and men with the same training are paired together to run, jump, or lift, men will beat the women. If you can't put women on the front lines it doesn't seem fair to require them to be drafted to serve as couriers and cargo people who serve behind the scenes."

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CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Karen Anderson, head of the history department, said that although she hates militarization, she supports a military draft policy based on social equity in her office yesterday. Anderson said she wishes politicians would address the issues surrounding the war on Iraq and military inequities, rather than wrapping themselves in the American flag.

The issue of including women in the military can be traced back to the Revolutionary War, but discussion of drafting women didn't occur until the end of World War II when there was a severe shortage of nurses. The war ended before congressional action was taken.

After coming under fire for drafting soldiers during the Vietnam conflict, Congress created an all-volunteer army in 1973, disbanding registration in 1975. But when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1980, President Jimmy Carter reinstated the draft.

Carter supported including women in the draft, but Congress didn't act. In 1981 case of Rostker v. Goldberg, the Supreme Court ruled that women could be constitutionally excluded from the draft.

Many, like said Karen Anderson, the head of the history department, argued that women should have the same rights and responsibilities as men.

"I think it is a disadvantage for women in politics that they can't wrap themselves in the flag in the same way," Anderson said.

Pete Seat, a theatre arts junior and former College Republicans president, said he believes that if women want to be equal, they have to carry some of the burden.

"On the way towards truly making our society equal between genders and ethnicities, I believe women should also have to register with the Selective Service System," Seat said.

CNN reports that as of May 1, 19 servicewomen have been killed in Iraq.

"The fact that women are fighting and dying in Iraq makes it difficult to say that we should not incorporate them in the draft today," Anderson said. "The nature of the military has changed in the last 30 years; and women have claimed a larger and larger role."

Two female students, who lead the UA College Republicans and UA Young Democrats, agree that women should be offered the same combat opportunities as men.

"I think that if women were to ever be drafted for combat, they would need to be subjected to the same expectations given to men and trained in the same manner," said Danielle Roberts, College Republicans president.

"I think if women are qualified and have skills that can be used, they should be drafted as well as men," said Alicia Cybulski, Young Democrats president.

While Maj. Richard Garn, executive officer of UA Army ROTC., said a draft isn't needed, he recognizes the women he supervises in the UA program as equals.

"We have lots of women who work on active duty do a good job," Garn said. "In the roles they perform, they do as good work as any of their male counterparts."

Andrew McCarthy, a geosciences graduate student and vice president of the Student Objectivist Society, said the issue of registering women for the draft is moot to him because he opposes the draft completely.

"The draft runs counter to the principles that underlie a free society and which must not be compromised if we are to maintain our individual freedoms," McCarthy said. "A fully voluntary military, even in a time of national crisis, allows individuals to choose the most productive course for themselves."

Karlson said she also opposes the draft.

"If the government cannot present a good enough case to its people about the need for war, then the government should not go to war," Karlson said. "It's one of the most anti-American, anti-liberty institutions around."

Steven Nelson, a sociology doctoral student, said drafting women may invoke peace.

"One of the most enduring beliefs about gender differences is that men are inherently aggressive and warlike, whereas women are essentially passive and pacific," Nelson said. "If women can do war, maybe men can do peace."



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