Virginia moved to the brink of becoming the crucial 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment on Wednesday in what was seen as a momentous victory by women’s rights advocates, although it is far from certain the measure will be added to the U.S. Constitution.

The state Senate and House of Delegates approved the proposed amendment with bipartisan support, with a 59-41 vote in the House and a 28-12 vote in the Senate.

Final passage is considered all but certain. The ERA has passed the Senate in previous years but had never before made it to the House for a floor vote.

Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy of Prince William County, a sponsor of the House ERA measure, told her colleagues they were taking “the vote of a lifetime.” “One hundred and sixty million women and girls across this country are waiting and will forever be changed by what happens in this body here today,” she said.

The House gallery packed with supporters erupted in cheers when the House passage was announced.

Amendments to the Constitution must be ratified by three-quarters of the states, or 38. But whether this will go on to become the 28th Amendment may have to be decided in court, as the deadline set by Congress for ratification of the ERA ran out in 1982. Five states that approved the ERA in the 1970s have since rescinded their support.