Packing for Paris? Old law bans pants for women

PARIS (AP) - If it isn't already daunting enough to pack for a trip to fashionable Paris, female visitors, beware: It's illegal to wear pants.

So says a law dating from 1800 that has never been taken off the books - only relaxed to allow women the comfort of two legs when riding bicycles or horses.

French parliamentarians have occasionally pushed for the law to be set aside, and a senator from the opposition UMP party recently asked again for the government to do just that.

The Ministry for Women's Rights said what everyone was thinking last week: This law has been superseded by other laws, including the Constitution's commitment to equal rights.