[Strasbourg, France; July 14. Image via Getty]

Former French Justice minister and European MP Rachida Dati uses her cellphone on July 14, 2009 before the opening session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Eastern France. Dubbed France's Cinderella for her success in overcoming the odds, Dati was one of three black and Arab women appointed to President Nicholas Sarkozy's right-wing government in 2007. AFP0 PHOTO/DOMINIQUE FAGET (Photo credit should read DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

• The results are in: Tyler Barker, 15, is the father of baby girl Maisie. Tabloids named Alfie Patten as the young father (he was 12 at the time of conception) of Chantelle Stedman's child, but DNA tests have revealed that Barker is the real dad. • After a judge denied Rod Blagojevich's request to travel to Costa Rica to film the reality show "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!", his wife, Patti, said that she is going to participate in his place. • A couple from Ohio, Danica Wallace and Jeremy Welsh, were arrested after police spotted them having sex in a parked car with Wallace's two children buckled in the back seats. "We were horny and we wanted to fuck," Welsch explained. • CNN has a piece today<,/a> on women's roller derby and the ladies who have led the recent revival of the sport. In recognition of both its popularity and its pitfalls, sports doctors are working on studying the game to determine the best ways to prevent and treat injuries. • The stick-figures on bathroom signs have become something of a problematic symbol for the gender studies crowd, and Sociological Images examines the ways in which the simple signs send messages about gender and parenting. • Suze Orman is being sued for fraud over a long-term insurance plan that was sold to two California residents by a firm bearing her name. • A recent survey found that 7 out of 10 women are embarrassed to discuss vaginal dryness and pain with their doctors, which makes them reluctant to seek medical help or information. • The French gynecologist who treated Rachida Dati could face harsh punishment for writing about Dati's birth and quick recovery. Claude Debache will appear before a medical council this week. • Elyse Umemoto, winner of the Miss Washington 2007 title, has spoken out about the horrible "double life" she led as a pageant queen and a victim of domestic abuse. Her abusive boyfriend published photos of her in her underwear online, but Umemoto does not want that to be what she is remembered for. "I want my legacy to be about empowerment, not what those pictures convey," she said. • A new study has found that wage levels relate to intelligence and skill as well as perceived attractiveness. "We've found that, even accounting for intelligence, a person's feeling of self-worth is enhanced by how attractive they are and this, in turn, results in higher pay," said the author of the study. • 

Dati, 43, is expected to resign in June after running for European parliament, but according to The Guardian she resisted leaving the government and was forced to resign by Sarkozy.

Dati's decision to return to work so soon after she gave birth 21 days ago caused a media controversy, with feminist groups claiming that she was bullied by Sarkozy, who announced an important justice reform soon after she gave birth, giving her no option but to return. Dati is a single mother and has refused to comment on who is the father of her baby, but there has been rampant speculation in the French media. Salma Hayek's on-and-off beau, LVMH billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose-Maria Aznar (among others) have publicly denied paternity and some say she used a sperm bank in Denmark.

Dati was hand picked by Sarkozy in 2007 even though she had little political experience, and he celebrated her being the first Muslim woman with north African parents to hold a French ministerial post, calling her the new face of France. Though she was born in poverty to a Moroccan laborer and illiterate Algerian mother, many criticize her new found love for high fashion and frequent photo shoots for fashion magazines, calling her "Rachida Barbie." Judges and lawyers have questioned her capabilities and the appropriateness of her lavish lifestyle, and some say her unpopularity is hindering Sarkozy's plan to reform the judicial system.

Critics also question her competence because of her close relationship with Sarkozy, who according to The Daily Mail had nicknamed her "ma beurette" or "my little Arab girl." She had accompanied the Sarkozy family on vacation, and last year she was linked to the president after he divorced his wife. It was reported that Sarkozy's new wife Carla Bruni had pointed to a bed in Elysee Palace and said to Dati, "You'd have love to occupy it, wouldn't you?"

There is evidence that Dati was simply not performing her job well, with a string of aides resigning over her management style, her justice ministry experiencing crisis after crisis, and the fact that France's prisons are run down and overcrowded with record suicide rates. But it remains unclear if she was actually not performing her job as well as she could, or if the decisions she made in her personal life as a prominent female politician made her an easy target for criticism.

French Minister Who Returned To Work Five Days After Giving Birth Is Sacked By Sarkozy [Daily Mail]
French Justice Chief Dati 'Plans' To Quit [Guardian]

So is she a bad mom or a bad feminist? Both, says Emma Burstall in a condescending piece in the Independent. Since she is psychic, Burstall can read Dati's emotions by looking at newspaper photos: "Behind the power suit and million-dollar smile I see only pain and heartache." Obviously Dati's return to work results from "a lack of confidence, and fear and insecurity about her job — mixed, perhaps, with a touch of swagger, of pathetic macho posturing."

All this is presumptuous, as is Burstall's assertion that her three maternity leaves make her an expert on what's best for every woman. But she does have a more interesting point — "it's a shame, [...] given her high-profile position, that she's signalling to employers that this is what job commitment really looks like." More difficult to dismiss than handwringing over Dati's health, emotions, and the well-being of her baby — all of which she probably knows more about than any journalist — is the idea that Dati is making motherhood and maternity leave harder for less powerful women by refusing to take it herself.

"You can all too easily imagine how this story percolates through to others," writes Madeleine Bunting in the Guardian, "the city boss who casually drops hints to his bright new pregnant protege that, perhaps, given the tough times, she might want to arrange a pre-planned caesarean and mark the time off as a weekend break. Or it may not even be direct pressure from the boss; it can be much more subtle." Lots of women, especially in the US where paid maternity leave is a perk, not a right, experience this subtle pressure frequently — every time anyone says that motherhood and commitment to a job are inherently incompatible. But is Rachida Dati really responsible for this pressure? According to former French presidential candidate Segolene Royal, Dati is actually a victim of it: Nicolas Sarkozy announced a major reorganization of the French justice system just days after she gave birth, forcing her to come in and deal with the consequences.

Just Five Days Off [Guardian]
Emma Burstall: New Mothers Have A Job Already — They Just Don't Go To The Office [Independent]
The Big Question: Is There An Optimum Time For A Woman To Go Back To Work After Giving Birth? [Independent]
Workplace Bullying Blamed For Dati's Return To Work [Independent]
Rachida Dati: From “Power Suits” To Maternity And Back Like A Boomerang [The F Word]

Dati said last week, "The justice system is there to protect the weak and the modest when they are in difficulty," and according to the Independent, "Everyone from the far left to Marine Le Pen on the far right piled in to accuse her of insensitivity, of lack of understanding of France's secular tradition and – implicitly – of being soft on Islam." Dati has been oft-criticized since she took office, and in this scenario, as in many others, some believe that she is "resented especially by several experienced, male, white, centre-right politicians who think that they have a superior claim to her plum job," the Independent notes.

The court ruling was not based on the fact that Mlle. Y was not a virgin — her husband was granted the annulment because she lied, and many Catholic spouses have been granted annulments in France based on Article 180, although anthropologist Dounia Bouzar called the court ruling "a victory for fundamentalists and a victory for those who look at Islam as an archaic religion that treats women badly."

In some ways the case reminds me of the Alexander Payne satire Citizen Ruth, as neither bride nor groom wants to appeal the annulment, and an otherwise private matter has been made a talking point for two contentious sides of a national debate. However, what sticks out to me is the "proof" that Mlle. Y was lying about her non-virgin status. Hymens can break without aid of a penis, and not every woman bleeds upon first intercourse, though the details of the court proceedings are not in any of the articles, so I don't know whether the wife subsequently admitted to prior sex. But just like the abortion debate in Citizen Ruth, the fevered strife between those who revere France's staunchly secular past (some of whom exhibit a measure of xenophobia) and those who are looking towards a more flexible future are not about to end any time soon.

UPDATE: from commenter ohnoela, "For those questioning about the proof— it's a well known fact in France that Mlle Y admitted to her non-virginity right after. I saw some quote from her lawyers about it, or maybe it was in her deposition— either way, even though the non-bloody sheet (ridiculous, ugh) was the cause of suspicion, the annulment decision was based on more than a lack of blood. As far as I know, she confessed as soon as her husband made the accusation." Thanks ohnoela!

Rise Of Rachida Dati: The Minister, The 'Virgin Bride' And The Row That's Dividing A Nation [Independent]
France Appeals Annulment Of Muslim Marriage Over Bride's Virginity Lie [Telegraph]