Of the 60 countries with active military conscription programs, very few countries draft both men and women. A couple of countries authorize conscription of women by law, but draft only men. Several other countries have an inactive conscription program in which men and women would both be drafted, if needed.
Mandatory Military Conscription for Both Men and Women
Most countries where all citizens of age are subject to conscription, are authoritarian regimes. However, there are a couple of democratic countries that have mandatory conscription. Let’s look at a few countries around the world with mandatory conscription of both men and women.
Africa
Most countries in Africa with conscription for men and women are considered authoritarian type of government. Chad, Eritrea, Sudan, Mozambique and four other countries conscript both men and women from around the age of 18 to 24. Of those, Niger requires 24 months of service with women having the option to serve in healthcare. Benin is also selective with their conscription, allowing only men and women with a higher education diploma to be drafted. Some argue that Morocco and Cape Verde, conscripting both men and women, are non-authoritarian governments.
North Korea
No surprise here. At 17 years of age, men are required to serve for seven years and women must serve for five in North Korea.
Israel is Different
Israel is one of the few multiparty democratic countries where military service is compulsory for all able-bodied male and female citizens. Under Israeli law, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) may draft recruits from three communities: the Jews, the Druze (an Arabic-speaking non-Muslims group living largely in northern Israel), and ethnic Circassian people. Druze and Circassian women are not required to serve, as their populations are much smaller. Muslim Bedouins from the Negev, a large desert region in southern Israel, also Serve in the IDF. They are not required by Israeli draft law to serve. Interestingly however, over 8% of draft age Bedouins volunteer for the IDF.
Jewish women, not seeking exemption from the conscription laws, serve for shorter terms than male conscripts. In 2020, 55% of eligible women were drafted into the IDF. Those claiming an exemption will typically be redirected to Sherut Leumi, an alternative voluntary form of national service in Israel.
According to IDF statistics, 535 female soldiers have been killed during military service between the years of 1962 and 2016. They served primarily in combat support positions, such as clerks, drivers, nurses, radio operators, etc. Things began to change in 2000, when an amendment to the Women’s Equal Rights Law of Israel stated, “The right of women to Serve in any role in the IDF is equal to the right of men.”
Following the amendment, a few women began enlisting in combat roles, including the artillery, infantry, and armored divisions. Within a couple of years, the IDF’s 33rd ‘Caracal’ Battalion became a mixed-sex infantry battalion. The Caracal Battalion is one of the three combat units in the Israeli military’s Paran Brigade composed of both male and female soldiers. The Caracal Battalion is named after a small cat whose sexes appear the same. As of 2009, approximately 70% of the battalion was female. The two other coed battalions are the 41st Infantry Battalion ‘Lions of Jordan’ and the 227th ‘Bardelas’ or ‘Cheetah Infantry Battalion’.
Europe
Only within the past decade, Norway and Sweden began conscripting both men and women. In these two countries, obligatory military service for women has been legislated as an act of gender equality. The Netherlands, with no peacetime conscription, would extend mandatory military service to both men and women. The Czech Republic and Bulgaria also would return to mandatory conscription for both men and women if needed.
The U.S.
The U.S. is one of 23 countries where the military draft is authorized, but not currently implemented. The U.S. congress has hotly debated military conscription and Selective Service registration of women for many years. In 2019, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the U.S. male-only draft is unconstitutional.
According to a recent survey, many Americans are unaware that the U.S. still has a draft in place. The Selective Service structure in each state, territory, District of Columbia, and New York City is trained and ready to be called into service in the event of a draft.
