Don't blame the 'Mummy Judas'

A lot of fuss is being made about French Justice Minister Rachida Dati's controversial return to work, just five days after giving birth by caesarean to baby Zohra.

It seems that women's libbers everywhere are up in arms, calling her a traitor to the cause of a woman's right to maternity leave. Labelled 'The Mummy Judas', she has apparently let women down everywhere and her return to work so soon after the birth is seen as undermining the struggle women across the world have had to endure to earn the right to time off when they have a baby.

What a load of old codswallop! Maternity leave is now a fully accepted right of women that isn't going to be suddenly cancelled because one woman has decided she doesn't want to take it. In fact these days it's all about more not less, with the whole baby leave thing starting to extend into the realm of fathers in the form of paternity leave. A little excessive there methinks!

Having a baby is a miracle of science and in most cases, not an easy thing to do. Carrying a baby around in your stomach for nine months isn't always the most comfortable of experiences a woman can have and it takes a lot out of the human body, but let's not lose sight of the fact that it's something billions of women have been doing for thousands of years - with a lot less medical help than we have these days.

Two days before my son was born I was moving house, decorating, moving furniture (albeit slowly and gently) and generally running around busy trying to get everything ready in time for the birth that was due two weeks later. The next day I dropped my (now ex) husband to his first day at his new job and went off for my last pre-natal check-up, where I was informed they wanted to induce me right there and then. I calmly explained that wasn't possible as I had to cook for a dinner party of nine that night and made an appointment instead for the next morning. I went into the hospital at 7am the next morning, had my son a little after four in the afternoon and mother and son were home and entertaining well-wishers by lunchtime the next day. Admittedly, that sounds a lot easier than the whole process really was but that's because I don't see the point of going into the details. The point is, I'm not any kind of exception to the rule and having a baby isn't a debilitating illness.

Don't get me wrong, I'm fully aware that some women go through a much longer delivery process and need more time to recover afterwards. It's just the luck of the draw, and I wholeheartedly agree that women should take as long as they need to before they get up and running again. And not having had a caesarean, I can't really comment on the medical implications but the point I'm making is that if Rachida Dati felt well and able to go back to work when she did, it's no one else's business.

Had I been working at the time, there isn't a chance in hell that I would have gone back to work as soon as the French Justice Minister but that's a personal choice. For my own part I think the whole mother-child bonding after a baby is born is too important a process to miss. Not to mention the fatigue involved in having a baby, both in what giving birth takes out of the body (no pun intended) and in the amount of lost sleep all mothers have to go through.

But I wasn't working at the time so it wasn't something I needed to take into consideration. It's a totally different matter for a woman with as important a job as Rachida Dati and I find myself in total agreement with Guardian writer Siobhain Butterwoth when she writes: 'Dati is someone who has a serious job to do and it really doesn't matter whether she's postnatally flabby or annoyingly thin [along with being treated as a traitor to women, she's also criticised for looking so slim and beautiful after the birth - MC] when she does it. It's not un-sisterly to be slim and it doesn't make you unfit for public service. As for the health consequences of going back to work so soon, it's not as if she is a hod carrier, or a firefighter, or a teacher - she's a government minister and if she feels up to sitting down at a desk and attending meetings shortly after giving birth, bonne chance to her. I'm guessing she doesn't have to wait in the cold at the bus stop in the morning, or fight her way on to the metro to get to work, and I'm sure that there are plenty of people on hand to lift, carry and fetch. She may even find going back to work more restful than looking after a new baby at home following a caesarean."

Would I ever make the same choices she has? No, but I don't think anyone has the right to criticise her for the choices she's made. As for the people that say that by acting like superwoman, she's raised the bar as to how employers will expect their female staff to behave when they have a baby, what rubbish. Joan of Arc (another famous French woman) was a peasant girl who led the French army to several important victories but that doesn't mean all women are now expected to command armies. It's hard to imagine that one solitary woman going back to work sooner than others would like is going to change the world.