Having a brother who is 18 years old and a senior in high school, it is frightening to think he just recently registered to be in the draft. My little baby brother at war is not a pacifying thought. It is also a little disconcerting to realize my fellow Eastern classmates could also be in the draft. If this happens, what could I do to prevent it?

The insensible thought of driving my brother to Canada has even crossed my mind. Maybe I should be eligible for the draft … maybe all women should, we are allowed to do literally everything else. The reality is here, and it is inescapable.

Should women be eligible for the draft? Women are always claiming they don’t have the jobs that pay as high of salary as men. For generations, we have fought to want to be equal to men in everyday, but are we? I find myself in a quandary because in this day and age my head says yes women should be drafted, but my heart says no. Many thoughts have been circulating throughout my mind about the future as I finish my first month of my senior year. Should I apply for a job or attend graduate school? I can only imagine the fear I would have if I had to worry about whether or not I would be drafted in the upcoming year.

n Julie Ferguson is a senior journalism major and a monthly columnist for The Daily Eastern News. Her e-mail address is [email protected]. Columns are the opinion of the author.

According to an Associated Press story, eight days after the terrorist attacks, President Bush told reporters he does not want Congress to reinstate the draft in order to staff the war on terrorism. That same day, the Pentagon dispatched scores of advanced aircraft to the Persian Gulf. The Army has over 1 million professional soldiers, and the U.S. Armed Forces already have the capability to fight a major war with an enemy the size of China or Russia. A full-scale invasion and occupation of a country such as Afghanistan would likely result in the activation or reserves, certainly. It’s not the kind of enemy that would require large scale conflict and drafted soldiers take six months to train properly.

Just yesterday in the Chicago Tribune, I found Kathleen Parker, a syndicated columnist who stated we’re already armed with education and freedom, two things Muslim women in some sectors don’t already have. It was an interesting statement. I think we take for granted how much freedom women in this country do already have.

If we wanted to go to war, all we would have to do is go join the military. We are really not told to do anything else we don’t want to do. The columnist researched and found out that to the women and girls of Afghanistan, it’s an old war that has been fought for several years by America’s feminist organizations, whose leaders deserve a good cap doffing for a change of pace. In Afghanistan, the women are banned from education, working or speaking to an unrelated male. They can be arrested for going outside of their residencies with an unrelated man and possibly receive 100 lashes.

So if we think being drafted would possibly be the worst thing that could ever happen to women, we have to remember we have come a long way and shouldn’t take our freedom for granted. It makes me even want to fight for it, so if there is a real war, I say let women go for it.