As long as we're on the subject of an effective goverment, and the role of women within that effective government, I'd like to show you a few links. (Warning: there may be a few disturbing images.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3731081.stm
I'd like to point out that these terrible images of abuse in the prisons of Iraq do, in fact, show women. I'm stating this mainly because there are women in the military - we've been treating this issue as if every girl just got up and left her camoflage behind. There are women in the military, doing the same exact things as men do (and hopefully being tried for it, also). Were these women drafted? No. There's a pretty good chance that these men weren't, either. The draft hasn't been instated since 1973, and since then, we've been to war. In fact, in this article (
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/...042304,00.html), they'd rather do away with the draft than have to send people needlessly away to war.
Now, as much as I resented comments about the peace movement, I couldn't believe that the main reason given was that the Women's Movement was supported by the 'soldiers who fight for their freedom'. I suppose that, in that time period, was very much the case - we are still a relatively new country, but we now know our boundaries and limits. I'd like to bring forth a small reminder:
http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/...0801_0135.html
WWII was a terrible, brutal war. The women of that time period, having only had the vote for a few years, were enlisted in their own way. Through propaganda and media, the government chose not to draft women, but to put them to use in America, rather than also suffer their lives. Instead, the economy shot through the roof, and almost singlehandedly, American women kept the country alive and running. I still remember hearing stories of my grandmother going to work in the steel mills in her teens.
Where the government could have employed the draft to women (and note that this was after the Women's Movement had already gained fair representation and the vote), they instead gave them the lightweight task of keeping a country moving. The ammunitions, the textiles, even the rations that were given to the soldiers at that time were possibly products from an American woman's second or third job.