Because I believe that men and women are inherently different in important way-especially when it comes to ye olde bod-I don’t think women should be sent into high-risk military combat situations just to prove an ideological point. Some differ. During the CNN/YouTube debate, Senators Clinton, Obama, Dodd, and Gravel said that, if the draft were ever reinstated, women should register.
“What’s the difference?” Gravel added.
The editors of National Review suggest that the Republicans would be wise to make that question the focus of a 2008 debate. They write:
“Do Clinton and Obama want to see the combat exemption for women eliminated? Current military policy doesn’t adopt a phony gender equality by requiring women to serve in positions where they are less likely than men to survive. Studies show that only the top five percent of women perform at the male median on physical tests. Scores on such tests throughout the military are ‘gender-normed’ to accommodate the real differences between men and women – differences that have consequences on the battlefield.
“Consider, also, that Clinton and Obama’s plan would cause young fathers and mothers alike to be conscripted in the event of a draft. Do they really believe that it makes no difference which sex does the soldiering and which the mothering? If so, they should say so clearly.”