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posted by martyb on Thursday June 16 2016, @10:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the less-selective-selective-service dept.

The U.S. Senate has passed a provision that would require women to register for the draft, but don't expect any changes soon:

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a defense authorization bill that would require young women to register for the draft — the latest development in a long-running debate over whether women should sign up for the Selective Service. The provision would apply to women turning 18 in 2018 or later and would impose the same requirements and rules that currently apply to men.

The policy is still far from being law. The House, after considering a similar provision earlier this spring, ultimately passed an authorization bill that omitted it; the two branches of Congress now must resolve the differences between their bills. And the bill faces a veto threat from President Obama over other elements of the legislation, such as the prohibition on closing down the Guantanamo Bay military prison. But the bill's passage brings women a step closer to Selective Service registration — a historic change that has bipartisan support in Congress but is firmly opposed by some conservative lawmakers.

For decades, the U.S. policy of having a draft for men, and not women, was approved as constitutional by the Supreme Court. But as NPR's David Welna reported last year, the court's reasoning relied on the fact that women were barred from combat roles. Now that women are eligible for combat duty, "Congress seems to have lost its court-endorsed rationale for limiting Selective Service registration to males only," David wrote.

Previously: Women Warriors Coming Soon to US Forces


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @03:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @03:42PM (#361088)

    I'm curious. When you say "harassed", do you mean "unwanted attention", someone following you around, unwanted physical contact...?
    It's hard for me to imagine situations when men feel threatened by women, and in my head harassment is associated to a pysical threat of some sort.
    By the way, my assumption is that the scenario of a woman (boss) just wanting to have sex with someone in a lower hierarchical position and threatening workplace repercussions is not something that can happen in real life.

    So far, I have only heard of one instance of a man being (quite literally) followed around by a woman who kept trying to end up alone with him. I *think* there was no contact outside of the work environment though (the guy's solution was to leave campus as early as possible and choose random paths).

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @05:53PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @05:53PM (#361180)

    By the way, my assumption is that the scenario of a woman (boss) just wanting to have sex with someone in a lower hierarchical position and threatening workplace repercussions is not something that can happen in real life.

    Good for you, Sparky. Which universe do you live in and can I immigrate? It sounds significantly rosier than mine.