Pantalons allowed!

It's official! 

As of January 31st, it is now legal for women in Paris to wear pants! 

According to The Telegraph, last July, France's minister of women's rights, 

                  Ms. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, was given a public request by

 Senator Alain Houpert to repeal the ancient, unenforced law

which stated that women must ask permission from the police to be 

dressed as men (in pants!) or be arrested. 

At certain points (1892 & 1909), an amendment to the law allowed women 

to wear trousers if they were "holding a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse." 

This repeal  may seem a tad late although, 

 Gail Collins writes in her new book 

"When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present,"

that in 1960, a young secretary was reprimanded by a traffic judge 

for wearing slacks in his courtroom and sent home to change into more appropriate attire...

and most women had to get their husband's permission to apply for a credit card. 

It's not so very far away, women needing permission 

to be even slightly equal to men. 

But at least, you can rest assured that as of this year, 2013,

you can now wear slacks in Paris without the least fear of being arrested. 

Who knew?!

(Photo copyright: Kirsten Steen)