'The Cowardice of Women' Roils Germany

OSNABRÃ?CK, GERMANY â?? Playgrounds can tell you a lot about a society.

I used to cycle to work through the Square des Batignolles, our local park in western Paris, and was always struck by the almost uniform ethnic segregation: mostly white toddlers chasing each other and their caregivers, brightly clad West African women chatting away on the benches rimming the sandpit. On those same benches on Sunday afternoons, I would socialize with other young, professional French mothers.