THE French cabinet minister who unleashed an international debate about maternity leave when she returned to work just days after giving birth has survived a reshuffle in spite of suggestions that President Nicolas Sarkozy wanted to move her.

Rachida Dati, who was described either as a “wonder woman” or as a “traitor to her sex” for going back to the office so quickly, said last week that Sarkozy had assured her she would not be replaced as justice minister this year.

As France’s first Arab minister to hold such a senior position, Dati is considered a symbol of the ethnic diversity Sarkozy wants to promote in politics, but her high-handed ways had prompted rumours that she would be moved to another job.

The birth of her daughter Zohra by caesarean section just over two weeks ago seems to have changed all that. Dati became an international celebrity when she was photographed on her way to work five days later, looking as svelte and elegant as ever.

A debate ensued over how to juggle a high-powered political career with the demands of motherhood, with feminists from Amsterdam to America accusing her of being a bad example that risked undermining maternity leave to which women are entitled.

Others were more supportive. “Leave Rachida alone,” said Bernadette Chirac, the former president’s wife. Some fellow female politicians said they would have done the same.

But Valérie Pécresse, the minister for higher education, suggested legislation obliging pregnant politicians to take the 16-week maternity leave allowed under French law. There was not much enthusiasm, however, for that idea.

“There is no need to be a slave to politics,” said Roger Karoutchi, a senior member of Sarkozy’s centre-right party. “Nevertheless, 16 weeks of maternity leave is a very, very long time.”

Ségolène Royal, the former Socialist presidential candidate who in 1992 became France’s first pregnant minister, said that “being back on the job only five days after a caesarean is too soon” but she added: “This exceptional duty requires exceptional behaviour.”

Royal attacked Sarkozy for choosing to announce a major justice reform on the day Dati left her clinic. She said he was trying to “steal her thunder”.

This was not the only evidence that Dati, once the star of the “Sarko” constellation– and still a friend of his mother and brothers – had fallen from the president’s favour.

Among the hundreds of gifts that arrived for Zohra, mainly knitted booties and cuddly toys, none was from Sarkozy or Carla Bruni, the Italian singer and model he married last year, who was said to resent his closeness to Dati.

Dati, who grew up with 10 siblings on an immigrant housing estate, will not identify the father of her child, and his name has become the subject of a popular Parisian guessing game that has dragged in the names of politicians, entertainers and titans of industry.

François-Henri Pinault, the 46-year-old billionaire Gucci heir, last week became the latest figure publicly to deny that he was Zohra’s father. Jose Maria Aznar, the former Spanish prime minister, has also denied it. Even Sarkozy has been considered a suspect: before he married Bruni, Dati would sometimes escort him to state banquets.

Another icon of diversity to have escaped the chop last week was Rama Yade, the minister for human rights. Sarkozy is said to have grown tired of her insubordination but this attitude, combined with brains and good looks, has turned her into one of the country’s most popular politicians.

For the time being, at least, she is, like Dati, unsackable.

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