The real reason why Frenchwomen refuse to don trousers and uniforms is perhaps their love of individuality. They do not want to run the risk of being accused of apeing the men, but, more than that, they do not want to lose their own personal individuality. To be a Frenchwoman is to be individual, and the thought of any sort of regimentation is unbearable.
It is not that they despise masculine touches. Not a bit of it. But they will have none of them until they have been thoroughly feminineized, thereby leaving the purely masculine behind and becoming in turn purely feminine and fantastic and fetching.
Although France has lived with a background of war through many generations, France refuses to mobiliza its women for war service. This is because French women have not yet been given a vote, and until this [privilege has been granted the Government cannot officially organize any corps for women. There is another reason, too, and that is the system of military training in France. Unlike most other nations, France [always has an army of 3,000,000 "trained men ready for an emergency, and women are not needed for motional service as soon as they are in England.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.