+11 votes
in General Factchecking by Master (4.2k points)
Women are now able to be drafted

17 Answers

+28 votes
by Journeyman (3.0k points)
selected by
 
Best answer

This claim is false.

While the restriction of women being able to join the military was lifted as of January 2016, females are still not required to register with the Selective Service. According to the Selective Service System, "Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on December 3, 2015, the Department of Defense will lift all gender-based restrictions on military service starting January... As of January 2016, there has been no decision to require females to register with Selective Service, or be subject to a future military draft."

Currently, the Selective Service is not active and there is not a mandatory draft sign up. According to The Washington Post, "On Jan. 27, 1973, with the Paris Peace Accords signed and U.S. involvement in Vietnam over, Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird announced the end of the military draft, after 25 uninterrupted years of conscription."

Additionally, U.S. officials have stated that as of October 10th, the day the article was written, there is no sign of the draft being reinstated. According to AP News, "Defense officials confirm the armed forces have made no such recommendation to Congress or the president, which are the entities empowered to authorize a draft."

Sources:

https://www.sss.gov/register/women/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/01/27/draft-end-conscription-1973/

https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-us-military-army-draft-conscription-678135114035

False
by Newbie (480 points)
This is a solid fact check. You provide great government references that relate to the topic. It is unbiased and straight to the point.
by Novice (720 points)
Really good and reliable fact check here. You mention that it is false at the beginning and then use evidence to why it is false. Your evidence is strong because you use good sources like the Washington Post and AP News, both have good sources available for the issue at hand.
by Novice (620 points)
I think you did an excellent job proving this claim false. You did your research and held the facts behind the claim. Your references were accurate and strong. I like that you explained each law and its meanings to clarify any confusion the 2016 restriction of women joining the army is very different than women being drafted. Great work!
by Novice (910 points)
This is a very concise whilst thorough fact check. I appreciate the use of multiple sources to really add validity to your fact check
by (110 points)
I think this is a very thorough fact check. I like that you made sure to include where you found your sources while also including the literal Government Selective Service website.
+6 votes
by Journeyman (2.8k points)

This claim is false as the internet is spreading that women are being drafted after some misinformation.

In this article it talks about how women are allowed to join the military and in 2016 it wasn’t no longer a requirement to have women be drafted. Here the article points out, “As of January 2016, there has been no decision to require females to register with Selective Service, or be subject to a future military draft. Selective Service continues to register only men, ages 18 through 25.”

There is no update on this and there isn’t any recent news of women being required on being drafted and seems to be an internet “joke”. 

Source: https://www.sss.gov/register/women/background/

False
by Apprentice (1.9k points)
Good use of a trustworthy source and using multiple quotes to thoroughly explain how the claim is false.
by Novice (800 points)
While this fact check is strong and straightforward, it could be helpful to include more sources for readers to cross check.
by Novice (750 points)
Good use of a trustworthy source.
by (110 points)
This fact check is also very strong, I like that you made sure to directly link the government cite that explicitly says that women can't be drafted into war.
+4 votes
by Apprentice (1.6k points)

This is false because, in 2016 women were not required to register, according to SSS.gov it says "While women officers and enlisted personnel serve with distinction in the U.S. Armed Forces, women have never been subject to Selective Service registration or a military draft in America." Women are able to serve in military service but it is not clear. But the US is making moves to try to get women to require to be drafted is a conversation that has been bought back

https://www.sss.gov/register/women/background/#:~:text=While%20women%20officers%20and%20enlisted,all%20volunteered%20for%20military%20service.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/06/27/requirement-women-register-draft-back-table-annual-defense-bill.html

by Journeyman (2.7k points)
Good work finding a government website to use as a source and presenting the information in a concise manner. Just remember to mark your answer with a "false" tag.
by Novice (770 points)
I agree with you that his claim is false. After reading and looking into the research that you have done, it is clear that these claims are not true. You provided an ample amount of sources and evidence to make this clear.
+3 votes
by Journeyman (2.2k points)

This claim is false, and there are various sources to disprove its credibility.

According to the Selective Service System, women officers and their increasing numbers have all volunteered to serve in the U.S. military, and "women have never been subject to Selective Service registration or a military draft in America." This details that it is the choice of the women to decide if they want to join the military or not, but it is never forced upon them to be drafted.

Furthermore, The 19th details how the military has not issued a draft since 1973 and would be unlikely to do so in the future. Women were ruled ineligible because of rules involving combat, yet those rules have since been changed. The country remains divided on who should be eligible, but this doe not mean that women can be drafted at this very moment. 

Women were not drafted in the past, and there also hasn't been a draft in 50 years. If a draft does happen again, women may be drafted, but they cannot be at this time.

False
by Novice (800 points)
I like how detail oriented this fact check is. It address every aspect of the rumor including the history behind the draft. It could be improved by adding more sources, as well as removing the last sentence that is only hypothetical.
by Novice (720 points)
This answer is straight to the point with credible sources. It explicitly says in the SSS that women are never forced to be in the military. Unlike the main claim. Which the main claim did not have any sources at all. It seems like another rumor that misled people to believe it. You did a complete job of proving this claim to be wrong.
+3 votes
by Journeyman (2.5k points)
In the US, no. Here's what the official selective service website has to say:

"While women officers and enlisted personnel serve with distinction in the U.S. Armed Forces, women have never been subject to Selective Service registration or a military draft in America. Those women who served in the past and those who serve today in ever increasing numbers all volunteered for military service."

The website also clarifies that women were ALMOST added to the draft in WWII when they needed more nurses, but enough people volunteered that it wasn't necessary.

https://www.sss.gov/register/women/background/#:~:text=While%20women%20officers%20and%20enlisted,all%20volunteered%20for%20military%20service.

If you're not talking about just the US, the answer is yes.

"Besides Israel, five other countries (Eritrea, Mali, Morocco, North Korea and Tunisia) conscript women as part of universal military service schemes; five (Benin, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Norway and Sweden) have selective service systems that encompass men and women."

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/04/23/fewer-than-a-third-of-countries-currently-have-a-military-draft-most-exclude-women/

Keep in mind, though, that what's on paper isn't always what's done in practice, so you'll get some different answers depending where you look.

Since the question says "now," I assume you're talking about the US and not a country with preexisting decisions, so the answer is false.
False
+3 votes
by Apprentice (1.3k points)

This is a false claim. Women are not able to be drafted. To be sure that this is the case I went to the official Selective Service website, where it states: "While women officers and enlisted personnel serve with distinction in the U.S. Armed Forces, women have never been subject to Selective Service registration or a military draft in America. Those women who served in the past and those who serve today in ever increasing numbers all volunteered for military service" (sss.gov). Women have never been able to be drafted and there is no source of that changing in the future.

https://www.sss.gov/register/women/background/#:~:text=While%20women%20officers%20and%20enlisted,all%20volunteered%20for%20military%20service.

False
by Apprentice (1.8k points)
Good job on getting a ".gov" source to cite as that is highly credible and strengthens your fact check exponentially.
+1 vote
by Apprentice (1.8k points)

This is False

Essentially a video was made on TikTok claiming that women could soon be drafted into the US army. This naturally gained attention and soon shot through the algorithm convincing many it was true and causing others to post about it. However, funnily enough as my source pointed out there is simply just no evidence to support this claim. Interestingly enough women almost were drafted as nurses in WW2 but that never came to fruition as the war ended shortly after this idea could be put into play. Other than that, there has not been a draft since the 1970's, and that one was again only for men 
Source:
False
+1 vote
by Apprentice (1.9k points)
Women are not able to be drafted and never have been. According to sss.gov, women aren't and never have been subject to the Selective Service registration. Women can and do enlist and serve in the military of their own free will.

https://www.sss.gov/register/women/background/#:~:text=While%20women%20officers%20and%20enlisted,all%20volunteered%20for%20military%20service.
False
+1 vote
by Apprentice (1.7k points)
This is false.

According to the Selective Service System's page on women, "Selective Service law as it’s written now refers specifically to “male persons” in stating who must register and who would be drafted. For women to be required to register with Selective Service, Congress would have to amend the law."
False
by Master (4.2k points)
I like how you used a quote from a government source to prove the claim was false. This adds valitidty to your statement.
+1 vote
by Apprentice (1.0k points)
This claim is false.

According to the Selective Service System, "While women officers and enlisted personnel serve with distinction in the U.S. Armed Forces, women have never been subject to Selective Service registration or a military draft in America. Those women who served in the past and those who serve today in ever-increasing numbers all volunteered for military service."  

As of January 2016, there has been no jurisdiction that requires women to register or be subject to a future military draft. According to The 19th, "The military has not issued a draft since 1973 and is unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future. Women had previously been ruled ineligible for conscription because of military rules involving combat, but those rules have since been changed. Still, the country remains divided on who should be eligible."  

Also, the Military Selective Service Act only authorizes the registration of "male persons." For Selective Service to authorize the registration of women, Congress would have to pass legislation amending the current law.

https://19thnews.org/2021/12/women-draft-qualify-what-you-need-to-know/#:~:text=The%20military%20has%20not%20issued%20a%20draft%20since%201973%20and,on%20who%20should%20be%20eligible.

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