Editing Conscription (section)

== Drafting of women ==
{{see also|Conscription and sexism|Women in the military}}
[[File:Women in military - Obligation 2024.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|
Conscription of women (2024)
{{Legend|#ff9955|Service voluntary for both men and women}}
{{Legend|#55ff55|Conscription for both men and women}}
{{Legend|#5fd38d|Selective conscription for both men and women}}
{{Legend|#80e5ff|Conscription for men, women may volunteer}}
{{Legend|#87cdde|Selective conscription for men, women may volunteer}}
{{Legend|#b3b3b3|No data, no military, or no women allowed.}}
]]
[[File:HK-416_Norway.jpg|thumb|Norwegian woman soldier. [[Norway]] became, in 2015, the first [[NATO]] member to have a legally compulsory national service for both men and women, and the first country in the world to draft women on the same formal terms as men.]]
[[File:Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - Karakal Winter Training (1).jpg|thumb|Female Israeli soldiers]]

Throughout history, women have only been conscripted to join armed forces in a few countries, in contrast to the universal practice of conscription from among the male population. The traditional view has been that military service is a [[initiation rite|test of manhood]] and a [[rite of passage]] from boyhood into manhood.<ref>{{Cite book
| first=Ben
| last=Shephard
| title=A War of Nerves: Soldiers and Psychiatrists in the Twentieth Century
| publisher=Harvard University Press
| year=2003
| isbn=978-0-674-01119-9
| page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=We1HZDUTpdEC&pg=PA18 18]
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=We1HZDUTpdEC
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
| title=Encyclopedia of sex and gender: men and women in the world's cultures
| volume=2
| first1=Carol R.
| last1=Ember
| first2=Melvin
| last2=Ember
| publisher=Springer
| year=2003
| isbn=978-0-306-47770-6
| pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oGasFR3USxYC&pg=PA108 108–109]
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGasFR3USxYC
}}</ref> In recent years, this position has been challenged on the basis that it violates [[gender equality]], and some countries, have extended conscription obligations to women.

In 2006, eight countries ([[China]], [[Eritrea]], [[Israel]], [[Libya]], [[Malaysia]], [[North Korea]], [[Peru]], and [[Taiwan]]) conscripted women into military service.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/military-international/ |title=Women in the military — international |work=CBC News |date=30 May 2006 |access-date=15 January 2025}}</ref>

[[Norway]] introduced female conscription in 2015, making it the first [[NATO]] member to have a legally compulsory national service for both men and women,<ref name="UC">{{Cite web|url=https://www.forsvaret.no/en/news/archive/universal-conscription|title=Universal Conscription|date=11 June 2015|publisher=Norwegian Armed Forces|access-date=26 July 2024}}</ref> and the first country in the world to draft women on the same formal terms as men.<ref>Šťastníková, Štěpánka (13 July 2023). [https://www.securityoutlines.cz/rethinking-conscription-the-scandinavian-model/ "Rethinking Conscription: The Scandinavian Model"]. ''Security Outlines''. Retrieved 29 January 2025.</ref> In practice only motivated volunteers are selected to join the army in Norway.<ref name="NM">{{cite web|url=http://www.dw.com/en/norways-military-conscription-becomes-gender-neutral/a-17995882|title=Norway's military conscription becomes gender neutral|work=Deutsche Welle|access-date=15 October 2016}}</ref>

[[Conscription in Sweden|Sweden]] introduced female conscription in 2010, but it was not activated until 2017. This made Sweden the second nation in Europe to draft women, and the second in the world (after Norway) to draft women on the same formal terms as men.<ref name="CW">{{Cite journal |last1=Persson |first1=Alma|last2=Sundevall |first2=Fia |date=2019-03-22 |title=Conscripting women: gender, soldiering, and military service in Sweden 1965–2018 |journal=Women's History Review|volume=28|issue=7|pages=1039–1056|doi=10.1080/09612025.2019.1596542|issn=0961-2025|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Denmark]] has extended conscription to women from 2027 but then brought forward military service to 2025, also on a gender-neutral model.<ref name="Olsen">{{Cite web |last=Olsen |first=Jan M. |title=Denmark wants to conscript more people for military service – including women |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/denmark-conscript-people-military-service-including-women-time-108073545 |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=ABC News |language=en |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>[https://www.fmn.dk/globalassets/fmn/dokumenter/nyheder/2024/-aftale-om-fuld-ligestilling-i-vaernepligten-under-forsvarsforliget-2024-2033-.pdf Dokumenter]</ref><ref>[https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/ligestilling-og-laengere-tid-i-troejen-forstaa-den-nye-vaernepligt Ligestilling og længere tid i trøjen: Forstå den nye værnepligt]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=AFP |first=Staff Writer With |date=2025-03-26 |title=Denmark Brings Forwards Women's Military Service |url=https://thedefensepost.com/2025/03/26/denmark-women-military-service/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=The Defense Post |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Conscription in Israel|Israel]] has universal female conscription, although it is possible to avoid service by claiming a religious exemption and over a third of Israeli women do so.<ref name="cbccami">{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/military-international/|title=Women in the military – international|date=May 30, 2006|work=CBC News Indepth: International military|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130913015451/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/military-international/|archive-date=September 13, 2013}}</ref><ref name="theecono">{{cite web|url=http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/eri/hecer/disc/106/theecono.pdf|title=The Economic Costs and the Political Allure of Conscription|access-date=2008-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624234828/http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/eri/hecer/disc/106/theecono.pdf|archive-date=2008-06-24}} (see footnote 3)</ref><ref>[http://forward.com/articles/121173/abuse-of-idf-exemptions-questioned/ "Abuse of IDF Exemptions Questioned"]. ''The Jewish Daily Forward''. 16 December 2009
</ref>

[[Conscription in Finland|Finland]] introduced voluntary female conscription in 1995, giving women between the ages of 18 and 29 an option to complete their military service alongside men.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Naisten vapaaehtoinen asepalvelus – Puolustusvoimat – Intti edessä – Intti.fi |url=https://intti.fi/naisten-vapaaehtoinen-asepalvelus|access-date=2021-04-12|website=intti.fi|language=fi-FI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Oy|first=Edita Publishing|title=FINLEX –Säädösmuutosten hakemisto: 194/1995|url=https://finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/1995/19950194|access-date=2021-04-12|website=finlex.fi|language=fi|archive-date=2021-07-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712221940/https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/1995/19950194|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In [[China]], military law allows for the conscription of men and women, but in practice people serving are volunteers, given that China's large population (of over a billion) permits meeting its military targets with volunteers. Nevertheless, provinces reserve their right to conscript people, if their quotas are not met by volunteers.<ref>https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/military-service-age-and-obligation/</ref><ref>https://time.com/6245036/taiwan-conscription-military-comparison</ref>

[[Sudan]]ese law allows for conscription of women, but this is not implemented in practice.<ref name="wri-irg_org">{{cite web|url=http://www.wri-irg.org/programmes/world_survey/country_report/en/Sudan|title=World Resisters International: Sudan, Country Report|date=7 March 2024 |publisher=[[War Resisters' International]]}}</ref>

In the [[British Empire in World War II|United Kingdom during World War II]], beginning in 1941, women were brought into the scope of conscription but, as all women with dependent children were exempt and many women were informally left in occupations such as nursing or teaching, the number conscripted was relatively few.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWAzKA6ihUEC|title=Conscription in Britain, 1939–1964: the militarisation of a generation|first=Roger|last=Broad|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7146-5701-1|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NWAzKA6ihUEC&pg=PA244 244]}}<br />
^ {{Cite web|title=Conscription into military service|url=http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/st_conscription_l.html|website=Peace Pledge Union|access-date=2009-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090329105943/http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/st_conscription_l.html|archive-date=2009-03-29}}</ref> Most women who were conscripted were sent to the factories, although some were part of the  [[Auxiliary Territorial Service]] (ATS), [[Women's Land Army]], and other women's services. None were assigned to combat roles unless they volunteered.<ref name="Jeremy A. Crang 2008, pp. 381">Jeremy A. Crang, "'Come into the Army, Maud': Women, Military Conscription, and the Markham Inquiry", ''Defence Studies'', November 2008, Vol. 8 Issue 3, pp. 381,–95; statistics from pp. 392–93</ref> In contemporary United Kingdom, in July 2016, all exclusions on women serving in Ground Close Combat (GCC) roles were lifted.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.army.mod.uk/news-and-events/|title=News & Events|website=www.army.mod.uk|access-date=2019-02-12|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074637/http://www.army.mod.uk/news/24844.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the [[Conscription in the Soviet Union|Soviet Union]], there was never conscription of women for the [[Soviet Armed Forces|armed forces]], but the severe disruption of normal life and the high proportion of civilians affected by [[World War II]] after the German invasion attracted many volunteers for "[[Eastern Front (World War II)|The Great Patriotic War]]".<ref>{{Cite book
| title=Women at war, 1939–45
| first1=Jack
| last1=Cassin-Scott
| first2=Angus
| last2=McBride
| publisher=Osprey Publishing
| year=1980
| isbn=978-0-85045-349-2
| pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gPUtcFooPNoC&pg=PA33 33–34]
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gPUtcFooPNoC
}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Medical doctors of both sexes could and would be conscripted (as officers). Also, the Soviet university education system required Department of Chemistry students of both sexes to complete an [[ROTC]] course in [[Weapons of mass destruction|NBC defense]], and such female reservist officers could be conscripted in times of war.

The United States came close to drafting women into the [[Nurse Corps]] in preparation for a planned [[Operation Downfall|invasion of Japan]].<ref>{{Cite news
| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,775362,00.html
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423010321/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,775362,00.html
| archive-date=April 23, 2009
| title=Draft Women?
| date=January 15, 1945
| magazine=Time
| access-date=2008-08-12
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kalisch|first1=PA|author2=Kalisch PA|author3=Kalisch BJ|year=1973|title=The women's draft. An analysis of the controversy over the nurses' Selective Service Bill of 1945|journal=Nursing Research|volume=22|issue=5|pages=402–413|doi=10.1097/00006199-197309000-00004|pmid=4580476}}<!-- |access-date=2008-08-12 --></ref>

In 1981 in the [[Conscription in the United States|United States]], several men filed lawsuit in the case ''[[Rostker v. Goldberg]]'', alleging that the [[Selective Service Act of 1948]] violates the [[Due Process Clause]] of the [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment]] by requiring that only men register with the [[Selective Service System]] (SSS). The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] eventually upheld the Act, stating that "the argument for registering women was based on considerations of equity, but Congress was entitled, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to focus on the question of military need, rather than 'equity.'"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0453_0057_ZS.html |title=Rostker v. Goldberg |publisher= Cornell Law School |access-date=26 December 2006 }}</ref> In 2013, Judge [[Gray H. Miller]] of the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas]] ruled that the Service's men-only requirement was unconstitutional, as while at the time ''Rostker'' was decided, women were banned from serving in combat, the situation had since changed with the 2013 and 2015 restriction removals.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/24/military-draft-judge-rules-male-only-registration-unconstitutional/2968872002/ |title= With women in combat roles, a federal court rules the male-only draft unconstitutional |last1= Korte |first1=Gregory |date=Feb 24, 2019 |work= [[USA Today]] |access-date= February 24, 2019}}</ref> Miller's opinion was reversed by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit|Fifth Circuit]], stating that only the Supreme Court could overturn the Supreme Court precedence from ''Rostker''. The Supreme Court considered but declined to review the Fifth Circuit's ruling in June 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/539575-supreme-court-asked-to-declare-the-all-male-military-draft |title= Supreme Court asked to declare the all-male military draft unconstitutional |last1=Kelly |first1=Alexandra |date=Feb 19, 2021 |work= [[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |access-date= February 23, 2021}}</ref> In an opinion authored by Justice [[Sonia Sotomayor]] and joined by Justices [[Stephen Breyer]] and [[Brett Kavanaugh]], the three justices agreed that the male-only draft was likely unconstitutional given the changes in the military's stance on the roles, but because Congress had been reviewing and evaluating legislation to eliminate its male-only draft requirement via the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service (NCMNPS) since 2016, it would have been inappropriate for the Court to act at that time.<ref>{{cite web | url  =https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/07/supreme-court-wont-hear-case-challenging-male-only-draft-registration.html | title = Supreme Court won't hear case arguing military draft registration discriminates against men | first = Tucker | last=  Higgens | date = June 7, 2021 | access-date = June 7, 2021 | work = [[CNBC]] }}</ref>

On 1 October 1999, in [[Conscription in Taiwan|Taiwan]], the [[Judicial Yuan]] of the Republic of China in its Interpretation 490 considered that the physical differences between males and females and the derived role differentiation in their respective social functions and lives would not make drafting only males a violation of the [[Constitution of the Republic of China]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.judicial.gov.tw/constitutionalcourt/EN/p03_01.asp?expno=490 |title=Judicial Yuan Interpretation 490 |work=translated by Jiunn-rong Yeh |access-date=2008-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603180450/http://www.judicial.gov.tw/constitutionalcourt/EN/p03_01.asp?expno=490 |archive-date=2008-06-03 }}</ref>{{Verify source|type=(see discussion)|date=September 2010}} Though women are not conscripted in Taiwan, [[transsexual]] persons are exempt.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nca.gov.tw/04/showdit.asp?sid=&%A7%C7%B8%B9=393 |title=Attachment of the standard of the class of physical condition of a draftee |publisher=Conscription Agency, Ministry of the Interior |language=zh |access-date=2008-01-28 |archive-date=2021-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414230300/https://www.nca.gov.tw/04/showdit.asp?sid=&%A7%C7%B8%B9=393 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2018, the [[Netherlands]] started including women in its draft registration system, although conscription is not currently enforced for either sex.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/10/girls-to-be-included-in-military-service-register-from-next-year/| title = Girls to be included in military service register from next year| date = 3 October 2018}}</ref> [[France]] and [[Portugal]], where conscription was abolished, extended their symbolic, mandatory day of information on the armed forces for young people - called [[Defence and Citizenship Day (France)|Defence and Citizenship Day]] in France and Day of National Defence in Portugal – to women in 1997 and 2008, respectively; at the same time, the military registry of both countries and obligation of military service in case of war was extended to women.<ref>[https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/section_lc/LEGITEXT000006071335/LEGISCTA000006137883/#LEGISCTA000006137883 Code du Service National]</ref><ref>[https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc21/area-de-governo/defesa-nacional/informacao-adicional/dia-da-defesa-nacional.aspx Dia de Defesa Nacional]</ref>