US Congress is considering a measure that would require women to sign up for conscription (Picture: Getty Images)
A political firestorm has ignited over a proposal to require women in the US to register for the draft into the military.
Senate Democrats added language to the annual defense authorization bill that would require women to sign up for conscription.
The House in a 217-199 vote last week passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act that allowed $895billion in military spending and included a bipartisan measure to make draft registration automatic. Simultaneously, a Senate committee approved a Pentagon policy bill that would expand that requirement to women.
US law currently requires most men aged 18 to 25 to register with the Selective Service, which oversees a database of individuals who could be subject to a draft.
Why is the US considering conscription for women?
The number of young Americans who volunteer to serve in the military has declined and is part of a downward trend since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
An internal Department of Defense survey in 2022 found that just 9% of young Americans who are eligible to serve in the military are interested, NBC News reported. That represents the lowest level since 2007.
In 2020, a panel of military experts told Congress that including women in conscription would be ‘in the national security interest of the United States’.
Lawmakers have put forth several measures aimed at altering draft laws, but all efforts thus far have been quashed.
When was the last US draft?
The last draft in America was activated at the end of the Vietnam War in 1973.
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