Officials target Paris female pants law

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PARIS, May 4 (UPI) -- A group of French lawmakers wants to repeal an "obsolete" law banning women from wearing trousers while outdoors in Paris.

The 10 members of the French parliament suggesting the "obsolete" law, introduced by the city's police chief in 1799, be "de-legislated" said it is already trumped by 1946 legislation making men and women equal under the French constitution, The (London) Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.

The draft bill follows President Nicolas Sarkozy's suggestion that parliament take time during the second half of the year to repeal laws.

The law banning women from wearing trousers was relaxed in 1892 to exempt women "holding the reins of a horse" and again in 1919 to exclude women "on a bicycle or holding it by the handlebars."