http://www.theworld.org/2013/02/france-pants-ban-women/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=france-pants-ban-women Global Perspectives for an American Audience Tue, 12 Feb 2013 04:52:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://www.theworld.org/2013/02/france-pants-ban-women/comment-page-1/#comment-27796 4SteAgathe2 Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:28:00 +0000 http://www.theworld.org/?p=159970#comment-27796 I don't know what France Ms Sciolino hangs out in, but it certainly doesn't fit in with the one I've lived in for 45 years. Indeed sexual harassment still exists over here, but its incidence is going down and the Strauss Khan affair has made a big contribution to this forward movement. Fortunately there are still a lot of French women that have no desire whatsoever to look like boring clones of Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel, or François Hollande, (who has yet to be seen wearing a skirt, but don't hold your breath) and who persist in wearing skirts or dresses; no doubt they would be looked on as traitors to the cause by sister Sciolini. Others would merely be grateful to them for their willingness to fight the drab and dreary. As for turning up to a cabinet meeting or session in the National Assembly wearing jeans, one might be entitled to think that this sort of behaviour shows considerable lack of respect for the function one freely chose to get elected to. I'd have thought that it was important to dress properly when called upon to attend to the nation's affairs, but I suppose that's just me. At least men and women in France can walk down the street safe in the knowledge that someone wearing a gun is not going to pull it out and shoot them; perhaps a slightly more important consideration than whether or not the French have "casual Saturday and Sunday". I don't know whether the US Congress ever sits over the weekend; I have trouble imagining that Senators or Representatives would turn up wearing flip-flops, shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. There are times when I'm so glad my wife is French. I don’t know what France Ms Sciolino hangs out in, but it certainly doesn’t fit in with the one I’ve lived in for 45 years. Indeed sexual harassment still exists over here, but its incidence is going down and the Strauss Khan affair has made a big contribution to this forward movement. Fortunately there are still a lot of French women that have no desire whatsoever to look like boring clones of Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel, or François Hollande, (who has yet to be seen wearing a skirt, but don’t hold your breath) and who persist in wearing skirts or dresses; no doubt they would be looked on as traitors to the cause by sister Sciolini. Others would merely be grateful to them for their willingness to fight the drab and dreary.
As for turning up to a cabinet meeting or session in the National Assembly wearing jeans, one might be entitled to think that this sort of behaviour shows considerable lack of respect for the function one freely chose to get elected to. I’d have thought that it was important to dress properly when called upon to attend to the nation’s affairs, but I suppose that’s just me.
At least men and women in France can walk down the street safe in the knowledge that someone wearing a gun is not going to pull it out and shoot them; perhaps a slightly more important consideration than whether or not the French have “casual Saturday and Sunday”. I don’t know whether the US Congress ever sits over the weekend; I have trouble imagining that Senators or Representatives would turn up wearing flip-flops, shorts and a Hawaiian shirt.
There are times when I’m so glad my wife is French.

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