President Barack Obama is supporting an effort to require women to register for Selective Service when they turn 18, like men, according to ABC News.
"As old barriers for military service are being removed, the administration supports—as a logical next step—women registering for the Selective Service," Ned Price, a spokesman for Obama's National Security Council, said in a statement.
Although there isn't a plan to reinstitute the draft, which hasn't been used since 1973, the president believes that requiring women to register for Selective Service would show a commitment to gender equality in the military, as well as foster a sense of public service that comes from requiring draft registration as a ritual of adulthood.
"It makes sense for women to register for Selective Service, just as men must," said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook.
Earlier this year, combat roles were opened up to women in the military, which in turn opened up more than 200,000 jobs to them as well.
"We need to remove arbitrary barriers to service by women in our armed forces," Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. "There is no draft in today's military, but it is difficult to say we have true equality if we continue with a Selective Service system that only requires compulsory service from men."