Une mère extraordinaire: French minister back at work 5 days after giving birth

TALK about a workaholic. It was business as usual for French justice minister Rachida Dati on Wednesday, when she returned to work just five days after giving birth to her first child. The glamorous and driven 43-year-old's pregnancy has been followed closely by the French media, and her speedy return to the office after giving birth to a daughter, Zohra, on Friday is just the latest event in Dati's personal life to have the French public transfixed.

The question on everyone's lips since the pregnancy was confirmed in September concerns the child's paternity. Dati has consistently refused to comment, saying simply that her private life is "complicated". Her refusal to be drawn on the matter has simply added fuel to the fire, with the wildest French rumours suggesting everyone from a sperm donor to President Nicolas Sarkozy himself as the father.

But while expressing surprise about Dati's decision to return to work so soon, the response from the French media been has been generally positive, complimenting her slim, glamorous appearance as she returned to work.

On this side of the Channel, the reaction has been less favourable. Dati has drawn accusations that she is putting her career before the interests of her child. Some psychologists have gone so far as to say that such separation from the mother at this early stage may harm the child's development.

In France, women are entitled to six weeks of maternity leave before their due date and ten weeks after they give birth. However, less than 24 hours after the delivery of Zohra – who was born two weeks prematurely – Dati was "following her dossiers" according to her aides.

While many parents might struggle to understand her decision, it has been suggested that Dati felt she had little choice but to return to work immediately – rumours had been circulating for some time that Sarkozy was considering replacing her in his next Cabinet reshuffle.

The French business newspaper Les Echos said Dati had attended the meeting on Wednesday in which Sarkozy discussed scrapping the 200-year-old post of examining magistrate under his plans for major judicial reform "to avoid the devastating image of a president of the Republic announcing a fundamental reform of the legal system without her being present".

But despite France's notoriously laissez-faire attitude to relationship scandal, the real gossip about Dati continues to be on the topic of "Qui is the Daddy?"

Paparazzi staked out the clinic in the plush 16th Arrondissement where Dati gave birth by caesarean section, but failed to solve the mystery. While both have formally denied it, a French casino magnate and former senior Spanish politician have been cited as possible candidates. A fellow French politician, as well as Dati's ex-boyfriend, French millionaire Henri Proglio, have also been suggested.

Perhaps the most controversial of the rumours is that the father is President Sarkozy's younger brother, François, who works in the pharmaceutical industry. He was seen leaving the hospital on Sunday and reportedly spent Christmas Eve with Dati, but he too denies paternity.

As for the new mother, Dati has said in the past that having a child was "fundamental" for her and that a baby was the one big thing missing in her life.

Last year she said that if the pregnancy was "consolidated" she would be very happy, leading some to believe that she may have used a sperm donor to conceive, perhaps at a clinic in Copenhagen during a trip to Denmark early in 2008. She is reported to have a taste for tall, blond men.

There have been claims that senior media figures in France do in fact know the identity of the father, but have avoided naming him because they fear breaching stringent French privacy laws. Even if that were true, it seems the public are not to have their curiosity satisfied any time soon.

The scandal seems to be of little concern to Dati, who had the proverbial new mother glow about her as she strode into the Elysée Palace to restart work. As she put it shortly before going into labour, "giving birth is not a disease".