The U.S. Congress is considering making women eligible for the draft in light of the armed forces’ difficulty in recruiting new male soldiers.
A new Senate-proposed measure would force all eligible women aged 18 to 25 to register with the Selective Service like their male peers. Concurrently, a bipartisan proposal to raise the maximum age of the draft from 25 to 26 was included in the annual defense policy bill that the House of Representatives passed on June 14.
In the midst of several geopolitical threats, such as the conflict in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East, the U.S. military as a whole failed to meet its recruitment targets last year by about 41,000 recruits.
The question of whether women should be able to enlist in the military has been debated in Congress since at least 2020, when a panel of military experts advised that Congress take action on the matter.
The House and Senate measures stand very little chance of becoming law, thanks in part to opposition from several Republicans, according to The New York Times. Congress may however continue to consider modifications to the US draft system in addition to other measures that would increase the number of active duty members.
The US last utilized the draft to enlist individuals in the military during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1973.
