In Josh Hawley’s world of ‘masculinity,’ women are second-class for the military draft

Sen. Josh Hawley’s anti-woman crusade is relentless.

Not content with calling for a new emphasis on “traditional masculinity,” Missouri’s junior senator is now stepping up his opposition to registering young women for a military draft.

“I’m in favor of keeping the Selective Service,” Hawley said, “but I’m not in favor of forcing women to fight against their will.”

Let’s begin with the obvious: How can a senator who constantly wails about vaccine mandates support a system that requires anyone to fight against their will? How is a military draft less tyrannical than a jab in the arm?

Hawley doesn’t say.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, a Republican candidate for the Senate, has a better idea. She’s introduced a bill to abolish draft registration for men and women, pointing out the U.S. has had an all-volunteer armed forces for decades. We think that’s a good approach.

As of now, though, young men are generally required to register with Selective Service, in case the nation needs to build up its military ranks quickly. The question is whether young women should also register.

More than a year ago, an independent national panel said yes. “This is a necessary and fair step, making it possible to draw on the talent of a unified nation in a time of national emergency,” the panel wrote.

Its reasoning was clear, and sound. Women have served in the military for decades, with great distinction and courage. Women are cadets at the nation’s service academies and serve in every branch of the armed forces.

Women were cleared for full combat duty in 2015. “They’ll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars and lead infantry soldiers into combat,” the secretary of defense said at the time. “They’ll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers and everything else that was previously open only to men.”

Nearly 1 in 5 service members is a woman. They are essential, irreplaceable partners with men in defending the country.

Except, of course, in Josh Hawley’s world, where women are subservient to men. Relegating women to second-class status is Hawley’s primary project, and barring them from draft registration is part of that goal.

Draft registration for manly men, on the other hand, is A-OK.

“If you’re an able-bodied young man … you should be willing to take up arms and fight for this country,” Hawley told one interviewer.

Let’s note for the record that Hawley never served in the military.

Yet again, Sen. Hawley’s approach is misguided and wrong. As is the case on so many issues, the Republican sees the world through a prism of supremacy and privilege, where men who look like him and think like him are ascendant, and everyone else should step aside, or behind.

That isn’t the world in which we live.

GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who did serve in the military, supports a registration requirement for women. Other Republicans have supported draft registration for women. The strongest opposition has come from white men in Congress, who obviously feel threatened by gender equality.

The Defense Department spending bill is now on the Senate calendar, and is expected to come up for final passage soon. Missourians should reach out to Sens. Hawley and Roy Blunt and make their views known.

We wish we lived in a world where draft registration wasn’t necessary. If we have a Selective Service system, though, it should apply to all Americans, not just men.