Rachida Dati- friend or foe to working women?

why because she is obviously a career driven character who would treat women and men equally - or am i way off there?
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Way off!!

One of the most obvious differences between men and women is the ability to have children - so how can you treat them "equally" with respect to the initial impact of a child arriving into their lives?

Working couple have child:
- Man takes anywhere between no time off and 2 weeks, generally from holidays, maybe paternal or parental leave (based on my experience)
- Woman takes maternity leave - does she take maximum leave or is she "dedicated" enough to make it back ASAP?

I am my own person, so I would make my decision based on what suited my family's needs, but I still would feel that if I reported to someone who was back to work within a month that it would be a black mark against my future career - ie my commitment to the company is questionable.

Bear in mind this "1 month maternity leave boss" is an entirely hypothetical figure to me - so maybe I'm missing out on something.
 
Vanilla said:
Rachida Dati- French Minister of Justice : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachida_Dati

She had a baby girl by caesarian section and was back at work 5 days later. Does she create an unrealistic 'superwoman' image that the rest of us cannot live up to?
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She did it because she wanted to, and she was able to, both physically, mentally and financially. That encompasses a whole range of reason why it might not be appropriate, or possible to return to work immediately. Theres also the suggestion she might have been pressurized into it, and its seems very soon after a major operation to be back on your feet.
 
pennypitstop said:
well i can only tell you it does - nobody cares its just a case of different strokes ...FMOE it only has negative associations when someone has say 4 children in 6 years and takes a year off with each one comes in for a few months and is off again - but they they usually leave of their own accord.
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That's just your experience. I personally had an experience as an employee some years ago where my then boss told me that she'd give me a fully paid maternity leave if I came in and worked 2-3 days a week, and made it clear that this was not really an 'offer' at all. That doesn't mean it is a common experience.

I've also been in the position of having a baby while being self-employed. I ended up having to work through the early stages of a premature labour and was on the phone trying to shuffle appointments a couple of hours after giving birth. Suffice it to say that I was back at work within a week with the help of family, albeit that I could be fairly flexible about working hours to a certain extent. Again it's not a common experience.

I've done what I've had to do, and hopefully in the best interests of my family. But I'm not in the public eye and that makes all the difference.

If her position was under threat then that is ( to me) a serious indictment of Sarkozy and his views, and a warning note to his policy implementations.
 
Vanilla said:
I've done what I've had to do, and hopefully in the best interests of my family. But I'm not in the public eye and that makes all the difference.
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this is the nub of the issue. She is in the public domain but that does not mean she does not get to do what she wants to do in her own and in her families interests.

Often women are the harshest critics of fellow women.
 
Vanilla said:
If her position was under threat then that is ( to me) a serious indictment of Sarkozy and his views, and a warning note to his policy implementations.
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But if her position was under threat before the baby can you imagine the outcry if she got demoted while she was on maternity leave?
 
From what I've read she isn't a popular Minister for Justice and has very strained relations with the magistrates, plus France's prisons are in a bad way - so giving Sarkozy the benefit of the doubt, her career issues are independant of her pregnancy.
 
Regardless of career reasons for going back to work within a few days of giving birth; there is a substantial risk to her own health by undertaking this level of activity within such a short post-operative period. I wonder if it is her first? I know first-time mothers can (as I did), muster up a fair bit of energy (false or otherwise) within a few days, but believe me it will catch up on her. Why bother? The post-natal period, or at least the first month, should not be shared with work schedules and tight office suits.
 
I remember several years ago reading a piece about a senior partner in one of our law firms. She boasted that her youngest had been born ona Friday night and she was back at work by Tuesday. I thought that was putting unfair pressure on any female employees in the firm. Whilst secretaries and pas probably wouldn't feel the pressure to follow her example and have a curtailed maternity leave, any young woman lawyer with aspirations of becomming a partner must have been under enormous pressure.
The senior partner would, of course, have had nannies to take care of the child and the ability to come in late, go home early and pick and choose the work she dealt with.
 
FredBloggs said:
I remember several years ago reading a piece about a senior partner in one of our law firms. She boasted that her youngest had been born ona Friday night and she was back at work by Tuesday. I thought that was putting unfair pressure on any female employees in the firm. Whilst secretaries and pas probably wouldn't feel the pressure to follow her example and have a curtailed maternity leave, any young woman lawyer with aspirations of becomming a partner must have been under enormous pressure.
The senior partner would, of course, have had nannies to take care of the child and the ability to come in late, go home early and pick and choose the work she dealt with.
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I agree with you but I wouldn't presume she can take it easy as per your last comment.
 
Purple said:
I agree with you but I wouldn't presume she can take it easy as per your last comment.
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What I said was she had "the ability to come in late, go home early and pick and choose the work she dealt with. " Which she would have had as senior partner. I'm not saying she would have done any of those things but that she had the ability to do them, which more junior solicitors wouldn't have had.
 
I read today that this lady has been given the boot! They didn't give her much grace for all her efforts. Babies come first!
 
Yes Ophelia, I think the high jump was in order. Although the BBC are saying it was demotion. Perhaps now she will have the time to work out who the Pere is!;)
 
So now we know why she was, er, moved [broken link removed]
 
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