French Law: Women Can't Wear Pants

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - An obscure law from the 1800s that is still on the books bans women from wearing pants in Paris, according to the Telegraph .

The law bans women from "dressing like men" in the French capital. It was first introduced in 1800 by Paris' police chief and has survived several attempts to repeal it.

It has been amended twice over the last 200 years. In 1892 the law was changed to allow women to wear trousers "as long as the woman is holding the reins of a horse."

In 1909 another exception was made allowing women "on a bicycle or holding it by the handlebars" to wear pants.

Despite other attempts to repeal the law, which police don't enforce, the French government doesn't seem concerned. It responded to a 2003 request to remove the law by saying, "Disuse is sometimes more efficient than (state) intervention in adapting the law to changing morays."

Evelyne Pisier, a law professor whose book "Le Droit des Femmes" (The Rights of Women) exposed the outdated law, points out that pants are part of Parisian policewomen's uniforms, therefore, they are all breaking the law.

In another fashion controversy in France, hours after saying that the burqa, the head-to-toe veil worn by some Muslim women, has no place in French society, President Nicolas Sarkozy backtracked last week saying he will recommend against full face veils but not pass a law barring Muslim women from wearing them.

Last month, Indonesia proposed regulations that would make it illegal for Muslim women to wear tight pants in the devoutly Islamic district of Aceh province.