ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on women of the middle classes, the equivalent of most of the men and the sector of society to which the term of 'New Woman' was, rightly or wrongly, attached. It also focuses on physical mobility in the city of Paris and Edinburgh, higher education and the acquisition of cultural capital, and the movement for women's rights. A local guidebook, Paris-Parisien informs that the right-hand pavement of the boulevard Saint-Michel was reserved for women only. The expression 'New Woman' came into vogue in English in the 1890s and took off after an article in the journal North American Review. Both Paris and Edinburgh were caught up in national campaigns for women's rights during the belle epoque. In both cities, there was considerable activity at times, reflecting the wider picture in France and Scotland. The rights concerned were by no means confined to the campaign for suffrage; indeed for many women, other questions of civil, familial rights took precedence.
