Congress has finally done something right.

As lawmakers prepare to vote on new defense legislation this week, they dropped a proposal that would have required women to register for the military draft, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. The move to include women in the draft gained bipartisan support earlier this year, but it was opposed by several key conservatives who saw it as an inhumane and unnecessary policy with potentially devastating consequences.

"Women are not chess pieces in a political game. They are doctors, lawyers, engineers, and already valuable members of our all-volunteer force," Missouri Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler said in a statement.

There was no real purpose in forcing women to register for the draft except to make a point about progress and how far we, as a nation, have supposedly come. But if progress means forcing young women to the front lines of battle, we shouldn’t want any part of it. That’s not social justice; it’s cultural degradation.

To be sure, women should be able to join the military and serve their country if that’s what they so choose. But women rarely feel as heavy a responsibility to defend this nation as men do. In fact, women make up less than 17% of the military, and an even smaller number serve in combat roles.

Perhaps that’s because women believe their talents are better suited elsewhere. And in most cases, they are. It is just a fact that men are physically better equipped to handle the demands of combat duty. Men are also less likely to be seriously affected by trauma than women. But nowadays, it’s taboo even to mention differences between the two genders — or to even mention the two genders at all, for that matter.

The lawmakers’ draft proposal was a case of “equity” gone wrong, and it’s a good thing it’s gone. A well-ordered society seeks to protect its women and children. What does that say about a country that purposefully puts its women in harm’s way?