French Politician Returned To Work Five Days After C-Section
Posted by: Annika Harris
Filed in:
news
1:00PM, Friday January 16th 2009
French Justice Minister Rachida Dati returned to work just five days after giving birth to her first child via C-section. This may seem like a commendable feat to some, but this is sending a rather scary message to moms and working women, in general: You must be a “Super Indestructible Mom.”
Dati’s return to work is another example of a message to working mothers that dictates how to act and look after giving birth. Similar to Dati, Sarah Palin, a role model to many working mothers, returned to work just three days after giving birth to her fifth child. We have a tendency to celebrate celebrity moms that return to their svelte and sexy pre-pregnancy shape. And we cheer on those celeb moms that haven’t lost their baby weight, but are obviously trying.
It’s unfair to expect all working moms to act as if nothing has changed and to be able or want to return to work after giving birth. I’ve never given birth, but I have had a surgery similar to a C-section. And the last thing I wanted to do days after was work because it was so painful to just move. Someone had to help me lie down and sit-up. And showering could not be done in a quick five minutes.
So I can’t imagine how Dati was able to return to work full-time, while wearing heels and looking gorgeous. Not only that, but I’d think Dati would want to bond with her daughter, who was only five days old. Mothers and fathers, for that matter, shouldn’t have to feel ashamed for spending time with their newborns. They should be given an appropriate amount of leave without having to worry about productivity at work.
In this age of the internet, more and more industries are finding ways to allow employees to work from home. Maternity leave is a great example of how this could work.
To be fair to Dati, there have been rumors that French president Nicolas Sarkozy bullied her into an immediate return. But we can’t be sure. Maybe she prefers an office to a nursery. Or maybe she’s just trying to save her job. [Parentdish]
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Perceptible
wrote on January 16 2009 @ 01:08 pm: [report]
Um, I think I still needed help using the bathroom five days after my C-section. That’s just insane.
fallenangel915
wrote on January 17 2009 @ 04:55 am: [report]
I’ve had two c-sections, and there is no way I could have gone back to work with a gaping (okay, it wasn’t “gaping” but it sure felt that way) hole in my abdomen. Breathing too hard hurt (esp after the first one…the second, I was so doped up I could have lifted weights), so just trying to do other “everyday” things seemed to be impossible. That is really dangerous, though. She left herself open for all kinds of infection.
Chelle
wrote on January 17 2009 @ 08:49 am: [report]
What did she have, a special c-section using alien technology? When I got mine I was in the hospital for five days. Then I wasn’t allowed to drive for 2 weeks. I also had trouble walking, coughing (oh the coughing was terrible, I had to have a little pillow on my stomach), and just moving in general for those 2 weeks. Just the thought of it still makes me cringe (it was over 7 years ago). Luckily, I had 6 weeks of maternity leave. If I were her, I would have told my boss to go eff himself. I’m sorry, I do not believe anyone should sacrifice their health for their job. You have one body to live in your whole life, there are other jobs.
robotheart
wrote on January 25 2009 @ 04:58 pm: [report]
Personally, I wish there were less scrutiny over what women do or don’t do in the days after birth. We criticize women if they fail to lose weight or fail to return to work after X amount of time, and we criticize women if they lose too much weight too quickly after or return to work too soon. Women can’t win. Until we stop obsessing over how women in public positions deal with childbirth and raising their own children, women will never be given the freedom to do as they please when it comes to giving birth and working.
Maybe after five days, she was feeling antsy and well enough to get out of the house for a bit to do some work? Maybe she was still feeling sore, but thought work would be the best distraction? There are any number of reasons why she might have gone back to work. It doesn’t stand to reason that it MUST be outside pressure, and by saying she should have acted one way or the other, we’re just piling on the external pressures that disallow for a woman to make a decision based on her own personal feelings about things.