Conscription and sexism
Prominent suffragists like Quaker Alice Paul, and Barbara Deming, a feminist activist and thinker of the 1960s and 1970s, were ardent pacifists.
[1] Norway was also the first NATO country to introduce obligatory military service for women as an act of gender equality.
[23] Other countries—such as Finland, Turkey, Lithuania, Singapore, and South Korea—still use a system of conscription which requires military service from only men, although women are permitted to serve voluntarily.
The Netherlands, where conscription is not abolished but suspended for peacetime, introduced in 2018 a law extending mandatory military service to women.
In 2022, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen claimed that the societal cost will outweigh the benefits, and women will have delayed their entry in the workforce.
Radical and pacifist feminists have disagreed, however, contending that "by integrating into existing power structures including military forces and the war system without changing them, women merely prop up a male-dominated world instead of transforming it".
[11] Anthropologist Ayse Gül Altinay has commented that "given equal suffrage rights, there is no other citizenship practice that differentiates as radically between men and women as compulsory male conscription"[36]: 34 and continues elsewhere, stating that "any attempt to de-gender nationalism and citizenship needs to incorporate a discussion of universal male conscription".
In post-Soviet Russia, the link between masculinity and militarization, established by the institute of conscription, has undergone significant changes—largely for political and economic reasons.
[38][39][40] In the United States, most male US citizens and residents must register with the Selective Service System within 30 days of their 18th birthday.
[43] As of 2014, transgender women are required to register with the Selective Service System, but might be able to apply for exemption in the event they are drafted.
In the event of a resumption of the draft, males who have had a sex change may be able to file a claim for an exemption from military service if they receive an order to report for examination or induction.
[46] Some state laws provide for automatic registration with the Selective Service System of draft-eligible applicants for driver's licenses.
[50] Professor Stephanie M. Wildman of Santa Clara Law called the decision to uphold the constitutionality of male conscription in Rostker v. Goldberg "chilling to any advocate of full societal participation".
In the United Kingdom, in July 2016, all exclusions on women serving in Ground Close Combat (GCC) roles were lifted.
