Women may now legally wear pants in France

How very enlightened of them.

http://www.ibtimes.com/paris-drops-pants-ban-women-legalizing-trousers-after-214-years-1059494

Tres good will covere up deem hairie legs.....

Wow. Thanks for posting this, PkrB. I am so shocked by this that I feel compelled to paste the text of the article below. It totally blows me away:

Paris Drops Pants Ban For Women Legalizing Trousers After 214 Years

Paris may be one of the most fashion-forward cities on the planet, but its archaic ban on women wearing pants was still in place until just a few days ago.

Since 1799, mademoiselles have technically been required to ask police for special permission to “dress as men” while strolling down Champs-Élysées, visiting the Louvre or enjoying any of the French capital’s other sights -- though the rule was amended two times so that females could wear trouser-like “pantaloons” if they were “holding a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse.”

Officials passed the decree during the French Revolution at a time when wearing long trousers (as opposed to knee-length “culottes”) was seen as a symbol of defiance. The ban was meant to prevent women from challenging men’s role in society and to limit access to certain jobs.

Men and women have been equal under the French Constitution since 1946, and the pants ban hasn’t been enforced for decades, but it has long been a thorn in the side for women’s rights activists.

Several officials have attempted to repeal the outdated law in recent years, including a group of Green Party lawmakers who drew up a bill in the National Assembly in 2010. Striking down parts of France’s “judicial archaeology,” however, was seen as a waste of time by the Paris Prefecture (police headquarters).

The issue heated up again this past July when a senator and member of the conservative UMP party directed a public request to Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France’s minister of women’s rights, arguing that the symbolic importance of the law could “injure our modern sensibilities.”

Vallaud-Belkacem agreed, calling it a “museum piece.” She drafted a statement, released on Jan. 31, calling the ordinance “incompatible with the principles of equality between women and men that are written into the Constitution and in France's European commitments”

“Because of this incompatibility, this by-law is implicitly repealed,” she added. “It has absolutely no legal effect. The document is nothing but a museum piece.”

I do not imagine that my great grandma, who lived to be 105, was a cattlewoman and expert horsewoman, would have cottoned to this Frenchy law much at all. First photo evidence of this below shows her taking a break from working cattle on our now-defunct family ranch (in the area I was raised and now live in; my home), wearing 501s. Second shot is of her when she was a beautiful young lady (estimated date 1915, maybe a little later??) wearing lady's trousers with a Ruger Woodsman on her hip. She was "a mover and a shaker" and had she lived in France, there is no doubt in my mind that she would have organized against this absurd law and fought it until her death. She likely would have been arrested for breaking the law, you can bet yer britches (did ya see what I did there?? haha).





I sure do miss her. She is still one of the most fascinating and amazing people I have ever had the honor of knowing, and I surely do wish that I'd been computer-savvy before she passed, because all of the notes that I took on her life-story and history were handwritten, and I type many times faster than I can write... so I missed quite a bit. But I tell you what, she sure was a character!

TEOTWAWKI wrote:Tres good will covere up deem hairie legs.....

Haha! And dem pits, too!

That's really cool Riceme. I grew up working a ranch. She sounds like my kinda lady... pants or not... lol.

PkrBum wrote:That's really cool Riceme. I grew up working a ranch. She sounds like my kinda lady... pants or not... lol.

Glad you enjoyed the photos of her and the bit of story about her life, PkrB. She was a truly phenomenal woman whom I loved and respected mightily and she was one of a kind. They broke the mold after they made her!

In her later years when she was not riding, she always wore plaid dresses that went down to her mid-calf with knee-high stockings and those sort of old-lady shoes that sorta look like tennies, but they're not... or work boots (with her dress, of course!). Then she'd wear a men's plaid flannel shirt over the top of her dress in the cooler months, or TWO if it was actually cold. lol. She was a real character.

I'd post a picture for you, but the only ones I have are print photos with me and/or my daddy in them... so, no go on that.

PkrBum wrote:That's really cool Riceme. I grew up working a ranch. She sounds like my kinda lady... pants or not... lol.

Cattle ranch, or.... ??

riceme wrote:

PkrBum wrote:That's really cool Riceme. I grew up working a ranch. She sounds like my kinda lady... pants or not... lol.

Cattle ranch, or.... ??

Yep... cattle mostly. My uncle still works it... between Austin (where I was born) and San Antonio.

Oh, that's right -- Pkr is from Texas...must be why I like him so much.

Love the pictures of your great granny, rice.

PkrBum wrote:
Yep... cattle mostly. My uncle still works it... between Austin (where I was born) and San Antonio.

Neat! Glad to hear that your family ranch is still intact and operational. Mine, sadly, is not. I have always wanted to visit Austin... GREAT music scene and tons of neat history, as I understand it.

The side of my family that owned the ranch (which grew to several hundred thousand acres at its prime) were Basquos or Vasquos, the spelling varies but in English it's "Basque" who had immigrated to Mexico, had a very successful ranch there, then due to long-term crappy weather conditions the ranch went to pot, so they WALKED across across the Sonora Desert and up to near where I now live (Mama was pregnant and gave birth just across the US border!!) to buy property (I'll say roughly) in the San Joaquin Valley originally. Eventually the ranch spread up across the Sierras and (again, I'll say roughly) the Owen's Valley. Oddly, they ranched both sheep and beef, which is extremely rare. You are likely aware that beef ranchers hate sheep ranchers and vice versa but they were Basquos, and they famously LOVE their sheep!

Here is my favorite picture of my great grandpa Conducci with his favorite horse Brownie, on the family ranch. He basically raised my daddy, who grew up in a wall-tent, and from the time he was ten until he was about 30 completely supported his whole family including his folks and three younger siblings.

My great grandma who we discussed above, was actually not on the side of the family that owned the ranch. They were just very close, and she worked on the ranch for the brothers who owned it together, including my gg gpa Conducci. OH, I was also gong to mention that Conducci's side of the family were some of the first Vaqueros in California and are in most all of the books on the California Vaqueros, in which there are lots of really neat stories and pictures. Pretty cool!



How old is your family ranch, PkrB? Mine dates from about the mid 1800s to... mmm, about 1960, or a couple years earlier, maybe. The family owned it a little longer, but the ranching ceased about then and it fell into the hands of Evil Aunt Candace (god knows how or why), and breaking the hearts of all, she sold it.

Neko:

Weird, there's no QUOTE button on your post for me to click! :-E

Anyhow, thank you! You know that I love talking about ancestry and stuff like that... I really love hearing about other folks' family histories, seeing family photos, and sharing my own with others as well... so long as it seems folks are interested, anyways! :]

Cheers!
riceme

I love that history Riceme. The ranch started in the mid 1800's according to family. It's gone through some contractions and hard times too. The story is that my 5x great grandmother (her brother was sam houston) started it after her husband was killed in san antone. She sold a hotel they ran and moved on. She had five sons I think... and married a ranch hand shortly after. When I was a kid my great uncle ran it and did very well... expanding it. All of us kids were pretty much obligated to spend our free time and summers working it... hard work. As we got older we slept in the bunk house... really fun and great memories. When we got those cattle prods it was war... lol. If you sat on a fence you better watch out behind you... a zap to the ass would send you flying. We had plenty off fun along with the hard work... and ate great.

Here's a poem for you, Rice, I've always admired cowboys, and cowgirls even more. Its about a lost love.

shadows and blue cowboys
ride a lonely trail
they never talk to strangers
and never read their mail

unbroke ponies run so fast
too fast for any fun
can't be stopped or even slowed
and will not be outrun

shadows and blue cowboys
ride far from city lights
they ride away from heartache
and sleep alone at night

unbroke ponies cost a lot
and sometimes won't stay home
so always rein them tightly
and never let them roam

often love is tough to bear
like a colt unbroke
when you think that all is well
your dreams go up in smoke.

1971

THANK YOU for sharing that, Yeller. I LOVE it!!! +1

PkrBum wrote:How very enlightened of them.

http://www.ibtimes.com/paris-drops-pants-ban-women-legalizing-trousers-after-214-years-1059494

This must be one of those examples of how far behind the rest of the world america is.