For the first time in US history, women may achieve a level of equality not everyone wants - eligibility for the military draft. via BBCWorld
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But this levelling of the military playing field has led to a more divisive consequence - at the end of March the government's National Commission on Military, National and Public Service declared it is now time that women become eligible for the military draft - the procedure by which individuals are chosen for conscription - just like their male counterparts between the ages of 18 and 25.
"The mere fact that women would have to register would signal a national recognition that everyone is expected to serve if needed and that everyone's service is valued equally," says Kara Vuic, a war studies professor at Texas Christian University, who is writing a book called Drafting Women.More than 224,000 women are serving in the US military, constituting about 17% of the armed forces' 1.2m active duty members.
Beyond arguments that the draft change empowers equality between men and women, the commission noted that the US population growth rate is at its lowest in more than 80 years and that seven out of 10 Americans of draft age - both male and female - are unfit for military service. The draft's most recent incarnation came into being in September 1940, when Congress passed the Burke-Wadsworth Act, which imposed the first peacetime draft in US history.
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