In this age of gender-equality, people are asking more and more if women should be chosen for the draft and / or if they should be allowed to fight in combat. Kathleen Parker, in her article “Does a universal draft make sense for our security?”, argues that women should not be drafted. Her basic argument is that, while men and women are equal in their mental capabilities and courage, it would be unfair to send a women to fight in hand-to-hand combat against men. Turner brings up the point that, while we can argue for gender equality, we must think of sex equality. A male body and a female body are different and can handle different things. She argues that sending women into situations they physically cannot handle would not be equality, but inequality. According to Turner, while many believe “fair is fair,” decisions made in the name of fairness can lead to unfairness.

First, I would like to talk about how this column is written. This is a wonderfully written article. Rather than pointing fingers at people who disagree with her or praising those who agree with her, Turner allows her words to speak for themselves. She doesn’t need to point to other people’s opinions to validate her own. When Turner mentions another person by name, it is to present some sort of evidence. For example, she talks about Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the first female four-star officer (If you don’t know who she is, look her up. She’s pretty amazing). This was to use Dunwoody as a data point as opposed to using her as a stick to beat her opponents with. Turner’s article is short, tidy, and to-the-point. It does not contain unnecessary fluff or fodder. To me, this is nearly a perfect column.

Now, do I agree with Turner? To be honest, I don’t quite know. I believe she presented some excellent points and presented them quite well. However, this is the first good article I have read on this issue for a long time. I feel like I need to look into the issue more before jumping to a conclusion. If I had to make a decision right now, however, I would probably agree with Turner. Women are amazing. They were created by God to do great things. Why do those great things have to involve being drafted? I’m not saying women should not be in the military, neither is Turner. I am simply saying that an average 18-year-old girl does not have the same chance of survival after being drafted that an average 18-year-old boy does. To me, that looks like inequality.

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