Battleland

Should Women Have to Register With Selective Service?

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Marine photo by Sgt. Bryan Peterson

A female Marine drill instructor gives a "poolee" a taste of what he can expect at boot camp

Over at Time’s Ideas blog, a pair of academics urges that women be compelled to register for the draft. Military recruiters use such registration lists to prospect for young talent. That, in turn, would put more females in uniform, write Erika Christakis, a Harvard College administrator, and her husband, Nicholas A. Christakis, a professor at Harvard University. And that, they maintain, would be a good thing:

The demands of 21st century armed services are arguably well matched to attributes that women can master as well as, or better than, men, even if they are indeed physically less strong on average: flexibility, creative problem-solving, ability to work with a diverse population, linguistic ability, higher levels of education and so on…An increase in the number of women in leadership positions might increase the chances that we will find better solutions to our military problems. To be blunt: women soldiers don’t form the same judgments about fighting wars as their male colleagues.