"Men got drafted because women weren't allowed to serve in the military!"
This feminist counterargument doesn't seem to be mentioned enough in these men's rights communities, even tho I've heard it IRL multiple times. So, I need to do it justice.
Is the claim, that women weren't allowed in combat, generally true of most societies? Yes, AFAIK.
Does it work as a moral justification for the draft, or as evidence that men were not disproportionally oppressed by the draft? Absolutely not.
Not being allowed to go to war is not at all comparable to being forced to go to war. Some militaries provide decent incentives to join, but missing out on that doesn't cause women or other potential volunteers to die. It's just a career opportunity cost. Being forced to fight means having your life gambled on behalf of the nation collectively.
In most wartimes involving a male-only draft and banning women, there were probably more men who wanted not to fight than women who wanted to fight, and for good reason as aforementioned.
Let me make a table of outcomes to drive home this ethical asymmetry. This is not considering the collective benefits of national defense and winning the war; only those outcomes which affect the individual.
| - | I'm not allowed to fight | I'm forced to fight |
|---|---|---|
| I want to go to war | Too bad; I could've gotten a salary with free room & board | Doesn't affect me; I want to fight for my country for a living |
| I don't want to go to war | Doesn't affect me; I don't have to risk my life | I could literally die any day from this war ☠️ |