As America’s presence overseas heightens, the Pentagon struggles

with the size of the military. Do we have as many troops as we need

or are the troops being spread too thin? Defense Secretary Donald

Rumsfeld and Pentagon officials are busy debating various

reorganizations of the military to best utilize the current state,

and are soon expected to approach Congress and request money for

expansion of worldwide troops.

Taxpayers opposing more spending suggest a reinstatement of the

draft. While there hasn’t been a draft since 1973, every worrisome

mother freaks out at the thought of her son being sent overseas as

rumors emerge of a Congressional attempt to petition for draft

reinstatement. Is it now time for a mother to dread her daughter

being called to duty, too?

One of the thoughts behind banning women from voting were that

they were not smart enough to make the decisions about important

elections. Women, however, wanted to prove the men wrong and show

they did pay attention to politics — they wanted to prove they

were smarter than the men gave them credit for. With Selective

Services, the logistics of male-only enrollment is that men are

better able to handle the emotional and physical strengths that

come with being a soldier. But instead of fighting the stereotype,

females go along with it because many women actually prefer to not

be included anyway. So, while the fight goes on against female

erotica publications and for gender equity in wages, women agree

with men and say they are indeed too weak to handle the

requirements of enrollment.

When all the guys started to get our Selective Services

registration reminders in high school, many of the girls I knew

breathed a sigh of relief at not having to register. The postcards

reminded the males of all the infractions we could face if we did

not register in time. Early registration was required if you want

to receive any federal financial aid. If you didn’t register within

a month, the threat of imprisonment and lofty fines loomed over us.

Yet, instead of yearning to be equal with their peers, females

rejoice at their exclusion from these harsh punishments. This is a

hypocrisy of the modern female — do they really want to be equal

to men, or do they just want to pick and choose their

equalities?

Should I feel guilty for believing women are as capable as men

of handling such a situation? Are others guilty for assuming that

women are not? Obviously, there are female soldiers in this day and

age. Women who are in the armed forces on their own merit have

proven they are as good as the men. But the argument remains, even

from women themselves, that both emotionally and physically a war

is too much for women to handle. I know women in the military who

can handle the demands of service and I know many others who,

although they aren’t in the military, would be able to. On the

other hand, I know men who faint at the sight of blood. There are

other men I know who wouldn’t be able to last through physical

training. Women have also come to stereotype men as bloodthirsty

killing machines who can handle the demands of the military. Women,

on the other hand, are deemed not able to handle such a task.

But you couldn’t tell Nicole Foley that — she is the only

female in a group of four students who has brought a lawsuit

stating the all-male Selective Services requirement is sexist. The

males in the lawsuit, including her brother Samuel Schwartz, argue

that the male-only stipulation is sexist and places an unfair

burden on males, regardless of their intentions of servitude. Foley

feels that the female exclusion is suggestive that the American

government believes that women are incapable of daunting military

service. Women become second-class citizens to men, and are deemed

weak and counterproductive to a war effort. She feels that she’s as

able as any male, and that the government is convincing many

females that they are incapable of making a difference. Their

father, Harvey Schwartz, is the attorney for the case. The teens

want the U.S. District Court in Boston to declare the male-only law

unconstitutional.

Many women shake their fists at nude magazines and television

shows they feel are stereotyping women, yet the American government

has told millions of teenage girls outright that their male

counterparts are better than they are for decades. Students at Iowa

State petitioned against a mural in a dorm kitchenette that no more

than a few hundred people encountered each year, yet are easily

subdued by objectification straight from the government. Equal

rights are necessary, but if they are to exist, they need to be

applicable to everything — females can’t just pick and choose.