CGSOC C170: Analysis of Women's Draft Registration - Argument Strength

This analytical essay critically examines Ruth Ben-Ghiat's CNN article, "Women Should Have to Register for the Draft," evaluating the persuasiveness of its arguments. The essay summarizes Ben-Ghiat's points, including gender equality, the changing roles of women in the military, and the rescission of combat exclusion policies. It also addresses counterarguments, such as the Marine Corps study highlighting performance differences and concerns from Special Operations forces. While acknowledging the article's valid points, the essay argues that the singular focus on gender equality is insufficient justification for compulsory registration, particularly given potential negative consequences and the lack of consideration for the unique challenges women might face in combat situations. The essay concludes that promoting gender equality should not override careful consideration of potential harm and practical implications.

Analytical Essay 2
In the nation, the young men are required under the law to sign up with the
Selective Service within a period of thirty days from attaining the age of eighteen. This
compulsion is not placed on the women of the nation, but there is a possibility of this
happening if a new proposal by the armed services committee is approved (Revesz
2016). This has opened the debate on whether women should also be required to
register for the same as is the case with men (Steinhauer 2016). And one of the articles
in CNN presented an opinion on this issue. In the following parts, an analysis of this
article has been undertaken, where a summary and critique of this article is provided.
This article provided that women should be required to register for selective
services when they turned 18 and even supported this viewpoint with the statements
made by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Marine Corps Gen. Robert B. Neller,
when they attended a hearing of the Senate, in addition to the support on this statement
by the republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Marco Rubio. In
presenting the opinion, the article also covered the different glorious times in the history
of women in military of US and stated that the women had the potential of entering into
potential military services, as a means of promoting gender equity. The article covered
certain key points to show the need of women to register for the same. The first ground
was the women being no longer excluded from Selective Services as the ruling of
Supreme Court given back in 1981, along with the rescission of the 1994 Department of
Defense Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule. The article also
highlighted the need of changes being brought in the laws time and again due to the
changes in culture and society (Ben-Ghiat 2016).

Analytical Essay 3
The article goes on to give the reason as a more equitable institution. In this
regard, the article mentioned the similar sharing of burden between men and women
across the bureaucracy in military and gave the reason for reviewing job titles by the
Navy and Marine Corps for making them gender neutral. The article also points to the
women being already involved in combat situation, from which they are officially
banned. Two examples are given in this regard, where the first mention is of the women
who joined the Special Operations troops back in 2010; and the female Army Air Forces
pilots during Second World War. Selective Service is the very first direct contact which
civilians can have with the military and to restrict the same for women does not send the
right message regarding gender equity (Ben-Ghiat 2016).
The article also presents the points which can be raised against the issue of
women being made to compulsorily register for Selective Service upon attaining
majority. For this purpose, the study conducted in 2015 by the Marine Corps was
highlighted where it was found that the women failed to match men on metrics of
battlefield performance on an average. The opposition also comes from the Special
Operations forces where 85% believed that women need to stay away from any and all
forms of Special Operations jobs. For this purpose, the article also highlights the
nightmarish situation which would be caused if female comrades are taken as prisoners.
However, the article concludes with the need for allowing women to register Selective
Service upon attaining majority on the grounds of gender equality (Ben-Ghiat 2016).
Even though the article covers a number of valid and substantial points, the
article is more or restricted to the theme of gender equality and this has been mentioned

Analytical Essay 4
time and again in the article. To base a point of a person being included in military or to
be required to compulsorily be a part of something which they do not want to take part
in, or are not capable of doing the same is not a justified thing to do, just to bring out
equality in gender. If gender equality is seen as a base for everything, will there be a
need to fill the prisons with equal number of men, as the prisons of nearly every nation
have higher male population.
The example given in the article regarding the women already being a part of
combat situations when they were permitted to do so also cannot be deemed as a valid
reason to make Selective Service compulsory for every woman. This can be explained
through a very basic example where a mother kills an intruder to protect her child as the
intruder posed a threat on the life of the child. Giving all the mothers a freedom to do so,
or attack every person who deems to be a threat, be it rightful or wrong one, would be
taking law and order out of the hands of the police and putting in the hands of the
public, which would result in a chaos. There is a reason for drawing rules and putting
restrictions and if there is an absence of women being made to compulsorily register for
Selective Service, it is for justified reasons. Even though the article covers a number of
such points, particularly in terms of the horrific situation which would be caused in case
women combatants are captured, it chooses to give no weight to the same. Resources
cannot be deployed to protect women from such incidents, where the role of these
women is to protect the general public, and they would be more of liability (Speck 2014,
28).

Analytical Essay 5
Thus, it can be concluded that the article providing for a compulsory enrolment in
Selective Service by women upon attaining 18 years of age, just because men are
required to do the same, is not a justified cause. The article fails in giving the requisite
consideration to the ill-effects of such occurrences and simply glorifies the role of
women in combat situations. However, every decision cannot be taken for promoting
gender equality, particularly when the same can result in causing harm to a particular
gender.

Analytical Essay 6
References
Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. 2016. “Women should have to register for the draft.” CNN, 11
February. Accessed 02 December, 2017.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/10/opinions/women-should-register-for-draft-ben-
ghiat/.
Revesz, Rachael. 2016. “Women could be forced to sign up to US military draft by
2018.” Independent. 13 May. Accessed 02 December, 2017.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/women-could-be-forced-to-
sign-up-to-us-military-draft-by-2018-a7028411.html.
Speck, Catherine. 2014. Beyond the Battlefield: Women Artists of the Two World Wars.
Islington, United Kingdom: Reaktion Books.
Steinhauer, Jennifer. 2016. “Senate Votes to Require Women to Register for the Draft,”
The New York Times, 14 June. Accessed 02 December, 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/us/politics/congress-women-military-
draft.html.