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An influential congressional committee has taken another step towards sanity and equality in military policy by voting to require women to register with the Selective Service, making them eligible for the draft if another one ever is required.

The 32 to 30 vote by the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday is just the beginning of an unpredictable process. But now that all combat jobs in the United States military are open to women, they should be required to register for the draft.

The legislation was initiated by Representative Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who actually opposes the Obama administration’s policy of expanding combat jobs for women. According to The Washington Post, he proposed the Selective Service registration measure to start a debate, then voted against it, saying that anyone who supported it would be siding with the administration.

That is some twisted logic. Mr. Duncan did start a debate but the gambit backfired when a narrow committee majority, including five of his fellow Republicans, endorsed the measure as an amendment to the 2017 defense policy bill that the full House will consider next month.

In truth, the possibility of a draft is small. It hasn’t been used since the Vietnam War and military commanders say the volunteer military is functioning well. Debate on Mr. Duncan’s proposal even prompted some committee members to question whether the option of a draft is needed at all. The defense bill also calls for studying the draft’s relevance and whether women should be affected if one is mobilized. Some lawmakers want to wait for the results of that study, assuming the provision survives the legislative process.

Requiring women to register for the draft would be the next step in bringing gender equality to the military services and in ensuring the Pentagon can draw on the broadest, most competent pool of recruits if the country ever needs to call up tens of thousands of troops to fight a war.

It is also a matter of fairness. Whether anyone should have to register at all is a reasonable question. But as long as men aged 18 to 26 are obliged to sign up, women should bear a commensurate responsibility.