Selective Service Indeed

September 29, 2013 2:42 PM

Guys singled out to the exclusion of girls. Why?

Going through a week's worth of mail today and opened a letter addressed to my son (away at college) from the United States Government Selective Service System about his failure to register with them, followed by some tough talk about fines and imprisonment if he fails to do so.

The opening sentence reads, "Federal law requires all males to register with the Selective Service System upon reaching their 18th birthday."

So I ask, why are males singled out here to the exclusion of females?

I have a daughter too so this is an equal opportunity Q.

Thanks.

posted by terrier319 to Law & Government (19 answers total)

Because it's historically for the military draft and until recently, women were not allowed to serve in the military and women serving in combat roles is even more recent.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:12 PM on September 29, 2013 [15 favorites]

Women cannot be drafted into serving in the US military.
posted by rancidchickn at 3:16 PM on September 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

That's the current law.
posted by French Fry at 3:18 PM on September 29, 2013

By "recent", I mean the last time they even tinkered with Selective Service was sometime in the 80s when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, if I remember right.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:21 PM on September 29, 2013

Yes, as GTW says, "Selective Service" is a euphemism for the military draft, or at present, for the registry that will be used if a draft is reinstated. AFAIK, women have never been drafted into the US armed forces, though hundreds of thousands have served.

In Rostker v. Goldberg, the US Supreme Court ruled that the exclusion of women was constitutional, since the act was based on military need for combat troops, and at the time (and until very recently), women were excluded from combat. President Carter's recommendation when calling for the Selective Service system to be reinstated had originally included men and women, but Congress decided to limit it to men.
posted by brianogilvie at 3:22 PM on September 29, 2013 [5 favorites]

To update the law, a congressperson would have to sponsor a change. No politician wants to touch Selective Service laws -- especially to expand them -- because it would look like he/she was itching for the eventuality of a draft. Because the draft is unpopular, but mostly out of the public consciousness at this point, you win no fans by bringing it back front and center. So to this day, it sits just as it did before women could serve in combat roles.
posted by the jam at 3:27 PM on September 29, 2013 [15 favorites]

Your daughter is welcome to voluntarily join the military and apply for the few combat MOSs that are being officially opened to women (as opposed to serving in a role that will put her in combat situations but not officially), but yes, she is discriminated against in terms of being draft-eligible for the reasons listed above.
posted by rtha at 3:28 PM on September 29, 2013 [2 favorites]

As an aside, make sure your son registers ASAP. The tough talk in the letter isn't bluster. Adulthood can be hell for a male who skipped out on doing this.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 3:33 PM on September 29, 2013 [17 favorites]

I realize this is tangential to your question, but I wanted to stress that this is absolutely not something to fuck around with. Yes, it's unfair and sexist, but they're really, really serious about it. Like, if your son doesn't register, he will find himself permanently ineligible for a lot of opportunities, such as federally-backed financial aid, any government employment, ever taking classes at a lot of state universities, getting a driver's license in some states, and many other government or government-linked benefits. And some of those exclusions, such as government employment, are permanent. If your son doesn't register by his 26th birthday, he'd be permanently ineligible for those benefits. And the only way to get around it would be to prove that he either couldn't have registered or had no way of knowing he had to. It's basically impossible to prove. I worked with a kid who didn't register because he was homeless for about a decade starting when he was 14, and he was denied a waiver because they said he should have registered when he got "back on the grid" at age 25. This is absolutely not something to take a stand about in order to fight sexism unless your son is really prepared to give up a lot of important things for the rest of his life just to prove a point that he is unlikely to win.
posted by decathecting at 3:34 PM on September 29, 2013 [16 favorites]

As the father of a son and daughter I'm quite happy that one of them is not eligible to be drafted.

BTW if you son needs any kind of federal financial aid to attend college he won't be able to get them next year if he hasn't registered. Here in VA they do it as part of your drivers license application so it's not even a separate trip to an office.
posted by COD at 3:35 PM on September 29, 2013

As an aside, make sure your son registers ASAP. The tough talk in the letter isn't bluster.

This is absolutely correct. But please note that if he is anti-war he has the option to register as a Conscientious Objector. There's no guarantee it would get him out of serving in the (vanishingly unlikely) event of a new draft, but it might make him feel better to check the box. It did for me.
posted by drjimmy11 at 4:01 PM on September 29, 2013

But please note that if he is anti-war he has the option to register as a Conscientious Objector. There's no guarantee it would get him out of serving in the (vanishingly unlikely) event of a new draft, but it might make him feel better to check the box.

There is no box to indicate that you are an objector. You would claim objector status in the event of being drafted. The standard advice on draft registration for objectors is here. Basically, he wants to start creating as much of a paper trail as possible. (For example, afaik, registration forms are not retained, so the fact you've written 'I am a conscientious objector' on it isn't recorded, but you keep a photocopy so that you have proof you made the claim when you registered.)
posted by hoyland at 4:44 PM on September 29, 2013

In particular, objectors should register on paper (the form's available at the post office) not online.
posted by hoyland at 4:47 PM on September 29, 2013

Females were required to register for selective service when it was first reinstated by the Reagan administration. I turned 18 in 1980 and I was required to fill out and sign a card at the post office in order to apply for a student loan (early 1981). On it, I checked the box that said I was ineligible because I was female.
posted by Back40 at 5:40 PM on September 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

Back40: "Females were required to register for selective service when it was first reinstated by the Reagan administration. I turned 18 in 1980 and I was required to fill out and sign a card at the post office in order to apply for a student loan (early 1981). On it, I checked the box that said I was ineligible because I was female."

Even though the Secretary of Defense has decided to allow women in combat jobs, the law has not been changed to include this. Consequently, only men are currently required to register by law with Selective Service during ages 18 thru 25. Women still do not register. (January 24, 2013)


Something to note; the laws regarding draft registration apply to foreign-born males [I don't know about females - sorry for the crude terminology] who wish to apply for citizenship as well. My friend from Germany was denied citizenship as a result of his failure to register.
posted by vapidave at 6:29 PM on September 29, 2013

Guys singled out to the exclusion of girls. Why?

Because the last time there was a draft, women weren't doing the fighting. Selective Service is registering for the draft, and they have never drafted women. There probably won't ever be a draft again, and the government certainly doesn't want to "expand the draft" so there hasn't been any reconsideration of the Selective Service now that women serve.
posted by spaltavian at 7:14 PM on September 29, 2013

Note that it is likely that the law will be challenged again now that women are allowed in combat roles. I expect that relatively soon women will have to register same as men.
posted by Justinian at 7:15 PM on September 29, 2013

If your son doesn't register, he will be unable to obtain government employment (or any government contracting position requiring a security clearance). Ever.

Yes, it's discriminatory, but as has been stated above, no Congressperson wants to bring the potential of a draft back to front-and-center, especially not to potentially expand its reach. Best to have him register than to endure the consequences of not registering to "prove a point."

I highly and sincerely doubt that conscription will ever be reinstated in this country.

It's a short, easy postcard to fill out, or at least it was in 1996 when I registered. You can probably register online these days.
posted by tckma at 2:30 PM on September 30, 2013

Also, I remember there being commercials on TV saying these things back when I was a teenager; to the effect of "ZOMG, men! Do this as soon as you turn 18 or ELSE!" I haven't seen one of these commercials in years, though.

Forms were also very prominently displayed in the local post offices, and my high school mentioned it frequently, usually in connection with getting government-funded financial aid (i.e. FAFSA) for college.

It would be very difficult for anyone to claim ignorance of the laws regarding the SSS, I think.
posted by tckma at 2:42 PM on September 30, 2013