Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [314]
If you needed a visa the first time around, one way to extend your stay is to go to a French consulate in a neighbouring country and apply for another one there.
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WOMEN TRAVELLERS
In 1923 French women obtained the right to – wait for it – open their own mail. The right to vote didn’t come until 1945 during De Gaulle’s short-lived postwar government, and a woman still needed her husband’s permission to open a bank account or get a passport until 1964. It was in such an environment that Simone de Beauvoir wrote Le Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex) in 1949.
Younger French women especially are quite outspoken and emancipated but self-confidence has yet to translate into equality in the workplace, where women are not infrequently passed over for senior and management positions in favour of their male colleagues. Women attract more unwanted attention than men, but female travellers need not walk around Paris in fear: people are rarely assaulted on the street. However, the French seem to have given relatively little thought to sexual harassment (harcèlement sexuel), and many men still think that to stare suavely at a passing woman is to pay her a compliment.
Information & Organisations
France’s women’s movement flourished as in other countries in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but by the mid-80s had become moribund. For reasons that have more to do with French society than anything else, few women’s groups function as the kind of supportive social institutions that exist in English-speaking countries.
La Maison des Femmes de Paris (Map; 01 43 43 41 13; http://maisondesfemmes.free.fr in French; 163 rue de Charenton, 12e; office 9am-7pm Mon-Fri; Reuilly Diderot) is a meeting place for women of all ages and nationalities, with events, workshops and exhibitions scheduled throughout the week.
France’s national rape-crisis hotline ( 0 800 05 95 95; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri) can be reached toll-free from any telephone, without using a phonecard. It’s run by a group called Collectif Féministe contre le Viol (Feminist Collective Against Rape; CFCV; www.sosviol.com).
In an emergency, you can always call the police ( 17). Medical, psychological and legal services are available to people referred by the police at the Service Médico-Judiciaire ( 01 42 34 86 78; 24hr) of the Hôtel Dieu.
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WORK
Although there are strict laws preventing non-EU nationals from being employed in France, it’s possible to work ‘in the black’ (ie without the legally required documents). Au pair work is popular and can be done legally even by non-EU nationals.
To work legally in France you need a carte de séjour Click here. Getting one is almost impossible if you aren’t a citizen of the EU, unless you are a full-time student. At the same time non-EU nationals cannot work legally unless they obtain an autorisation de travail (work permit) before arriving in France. This is no easy matter, as a prospective employer has to convince the authorities that there is no French person – or other EU national, for that matter – who can do the job being offered to you.
In addition to the fortnightly Fusac Click here, an excellent source for job-seekers, the following agencies might be of some assistance.
Agence Nationale pour l’Emploi (National Employment Agency; ANPE; www.anpe.fr, in French), France’s national employment service, has lists of job openings and branches throughout the city. The ANPE Hôtel de Ville branch (Map; 01 42 71 24 68; 20bis rue Ste-Croix de la Bretonnerie, 4e; 9am-5pm Mon-Wed & Fri, 9am-noon Thu; Hôtel de Ville) assists those residing in the 1er, 4e and 12e arrondissements.
Centres d’Information et de Documentation Jeunesse (CIDJ; Youth Information & Documentation Centres; www.cidj.com, in French) offices have information on housing, professional