Women and conscription

[JLB50]

It's been many decades since Canada has resorted to the draft to supply its military "manpower" needs. And it certainly wasn't popular in Quebec and other areas of the country.

But now that employment equity is being established across the broad spectrum of business, industry and, especially, government, would it be appropriate to draft women into the armed forces in the event of a major war? Some of the men and women I've talked to say that it's ok for women to voluntarily serve in the armed forces if they can do the job.  Yet, the moment the subject of conscription comes up, some of them suddenly became squeamish and said that a lot of women just don't have the physical abilities of men and, for that reason, shouldn't be subject to the draft (although the same applies to some men).

So how do you feel about women being conscripted into the armed forces, however unlikely it may be?

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Do it. The CAF is not gender specific.

 

[armyvern]

What's applicable to the Ganders should also be applicable to the Geese.

As a female, I want equal rights, but I should not get to pick and choose when I want that same right standard applied. 

Expecting that equality to be non-applicable in times of conscription, inherently, makes me unequal and that is utter bollocks.

Piss or get off the pot ladies.

 

[Ostrozac]

I think there are two sides of conscription in Canada -- the legal side and the political side.

Legally, I think it's highly unlikely that a conscription law could be implemented without using the notwithstanding clause. A modern version of the National Resources Mobilization Act would probably violate Section 6 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And since you're already using the notwithstanding clause, then legally, you'd be free to implement an act that applies only to men, or to both genders. So legally, there's no issue. You're already violating the charter, so you can keep on doing so if Parliament wishes to.

Politically, of the European democracies that still practice conscription, only Norway conscripts both men and women. It would probably end up being a judgement call by the government in power at the time, either a "let's conscript girls, Norway-style, because it's 2016" or "the Swiss model of men serving as conscript citizen soldiers is the cornerstone of democracy" could probably be sold politically if absolutely necessary.

Note this is all highly unlikely. Canada had serious problems instituting conscription for World War II (as well as World War I), and the World Wars were kind of a big deal.  It's hard to imagine a situation so much bigger than World War I and II that Canada would turn to conscription.