They might, if they had a national registry of grip strength. Until then I suppose they'll stick with using the nearest proxy.

We already have data on one of those…

Pragmatically, the main reason that has been true throughout all of history is that women are more valuable reproductively. A country can lose half its men in a war and still recover. The same is not true if it loses half its women.

There are physical tests and people do get disqualified.

I’m vehemently against the draft in general. I saw this war coming over a decade ago and live as an expat in part to avoid being press ganged into drone target duty.

Grip strength is a proxy for general strength, and I think it’s safe to assume strength is important in combat.