You make an excellent point.
I do not hold the mainstream Freeper position on this.
As the father of a son (and myself a veteran), I don't find it any more barbaric to send an unwilling daughter/mother than to send an unwilling son/father.
At this stage of our history and with the technology available, a draft of any sort would be indicative of a national crisis that threatens our very existence. I'm talking an "all hands on deck" emergency.
If the situation is not so bad that we wouldn't compel your brave and useful-with-a-gun wife, then we really can't make a case that all is lost if we don't have pajama-boy defending the nation.
If it's not a true and honest threat to our national existence, and I would argue that the most recent draft experience with Vietnam was not, then you recruit using the laws of supply and demand. Raise this pay; you'll get the volunteers.
Welcome to the club.
I find it more asinine to send our sons/fathers into wars, not of their choosing, that our govt does not wish to WIN.
Do we not have enough examples (Swiss, Israeli, Russian...) that women should be, at the least, TAUGHT the same skills? That’s not tantamount to putting them into fox-holes.
Those that ‘fought’ for equal-rights/pay/ability/etc.: You burnt those bras/bridges, sleep in the bed you’ve made.
Completely agree on the last point (re: raising pay). Course, I wouldn’t trust govt ‘promises’ either...