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A year ago I'd have been horrified. What kind of message does it send women when a high- profile figure takes less than a week off to have a baby? Yet studying pictures of French justice minister Rachida Dati, striding back in to work just days after giving birth by C-section, I couldn't help but admire her. Looking elegant in a tailored suit and three-inch heels, Dati seemed happy, focused and brimming with determination.
Underlying the upbeat image may be Dati's paranoia about losing her footing in the upper echelons of French politics - women know that power players circle like sharks at the first hint of vulnerability - but her determination is breathtaking.
Last year I witnessed the same sense of indomitability in two friends. One was managing her own business from the hospital bed in which she had just delivered her second child a few hours earlier - by Caesarean. The other, a recent émigré to New York, didn't qualify for paid maternity leave, so logged on and began working from home within the week. Both were back in the office within a fortnight.
Clearly, these women's situations are less than ideal. Most mothers I know relished those first few months with their newborn. But for some, the reality of six months out of the workplace just doesn't add up, whether for career, business or simple financial reasons. After seeing my friends not just cope with nappies, breastfeeding and workloads but also thrive under the challenge, I've come to realise we shouldn't be so determined to enforce maternity leave when it doesn't suit.
And before I'm accused of condoning child neglect, the two little boys in question are among the most balanced, sociable and least demanding babies I've seen. It could be luck, or it could be down to the fact both dads step in to take the strain when they can - working models of the new "flexibilism" in parenting.
Women of childbearing age are especially vulnerable in a recession. I already know of one pregnant women who has lost her job and, thanks to her expanding bump, can't find another. Perhaps Rachida Dati's example will make employers think twice about the dedication and ferocious drive of a new mum.
Reader views (7)
I think it is damaging to her child to have left her a mere 5 days after she was born, just so that she could go to work. Babies need their parents, but much more ideally so their mothers, in order to develop properly. No job in the world should be worth sacrificing the wellbeing of her child.
- Eric, New York, USA
Dati is no role model-she is neither young nor financially lacking.
Your article is utterly misleading,she is a power monger and her priority is to hold on.What an egoist ,it is the poor mum in the high rise building who against all the odds educates her children and with dignity.
Get your take on life re calibrated and stop living in cuckoo land!
- Trish White, Luxembourg
This woman should not be considered a role model, we should be looking at professional women that put their careers on the back burner as role models. Research study after research study shows that babies (and children) need their parents to care for them, particularly in the first year of birth. Feel sorry for this woman, do not make her a role model
- Julie Millington, godalming
I agree, looking up to these women is absurd! Charlotte's article made me rile! How can going back to work five days after having a baby and a major operation be seen to be impressive? Her 'determination breathtaking?!' It's ludicrious that the one time in a womans life when she has just given birth has to be tarnished by the views of vulnerable women who are so panicked about not being in control they are forced somehow pedal this image of leaving their baby and getting straight back on the computer as some sort of badge of honour. Hardly admirable bahaviour, there is plenty of time when that baby becomes a toddler to let someone else look after your child!
- Catherine, London, London, UK
I am sorry but I would not want her to be considered a role model. It is sad that she felt her position to be so vulnerable that she had to be at work within 5 days of having a baby via caesarian. I am a working mum too and love my work but 5 days after a caeserian is too early. She had a major operation and no one would expect anyone irrespective of gender to go back to work after 5 days of such operation. I wish she had more confidence in her position and would not want this to be used as an example of how quickly women can return to work after child birth.
- Shaded, London, UK
Why have a child if you're not prepared to put your career on a back-burner?
Don't understand why mothers want their kids to be brought up by a succession of nannies and au-pairs during the week and then a day here and there spent with them at the weekend. Seems pointless.
- Edgar Wright, Hull, England
"Both dads step in to take the strain .." is the key word here plus I am certain these career women have nannies and home staff to help them. Its humanly IMPOSSIBLE to do all even if they say so themselves.
- Cath, London
