Old French women's anti-pants law killed

• Tweet

PARIS, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The French minister for women's rights confirmed a centuries-old law banning women from wearing trousers was struck down and "is nothing but a museum piece."

The law, passed in November 1799 and amended a century later to allow women to wear trousers when "holding the handlebars of a bicycle or the reins of a horse," was confirmed to have been repealed last week by French Minister for Women's Rights Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France 24 reported Monday.

The law was "incompatible with the principles of equality between men and women that are written into the constitution, as well as in France's European engagements," Vallaud-Belkacem said.

"Because of this incompatibility, this [law] is implicitly repealed. It has absolutely no legal effect. The document is nothing but a museum piece."