Rachida Dati's five-day baby break

The French justice minister, Rachida Dati, went back to work on Wednesday, attending the first cabinet meeting of the year along with the rest of her colleagues and packing in four other appointments.

"Business as usual" perhaps for the 43-year-old, except her busy schedule also raised quite a few eyebrows here in France, and started off a whole "polemic" within the media and the blogosphere as to whether she had "done the right thing".

The reason? Well, as you might remember, Dati gave birth to her first child just last Friday, and many have been questioning whether she was wise to return to work so quickly.

On Wednesday morning Dati was discharged from the clinic in which she gave birth last week by caesarian section 15 days ahead of her due date, handed over her five-day-old daughter, Zhora, to her two sisters, and hurried off to the cabinet meeting.

The debate over Dati's decision perhaps raged most strongly in the (French) blogosphere, with arguments coming down in favor and against her decision.

Some accused her of trying to be a "Superwoman" balancing work and motherhood to the detriment of her newborn child.

To one reader in the comments section of the website of the centre-right national daily, Le Figaro, Dati's mistake was clear. "A baby is not like a spot on the nose, you actually have to look after it a little Madame Dati."

Another rather ironically asked "Should she be applauded? What a heroine!".

Even among those who thought that on the whole Dati had made the correct decision there were often reservations and concern that it also represented a "slap in the face" for those who had struggled to have maternity leave made part of employment legislation in France.

Statutory maternity leave entitlement in this country is currently set at a minimum of 16 weeks.

"She perhaps wants to get the message across (that a woman can be a working mother) but maybe she's going about it the wrong way, and thinks she's indispensable," wrote one reader.

But it wasn't just the blogosphere that held forth on Dati's decision. Radio, television and the national press also debated the issue.

One national radio channel, Europe 1, devoted much of its Drive-time program to Dati's return to work, inviting listeners to react and encouraging them to "vote" in an admittedly unscientific poll as to whether they had been "shocked by" or "supported" the minister's move.

The result - well probably pretty much as would be expected from many of the comments made - split evenly between those who supported her and those who didn't.

During the course of that program, Isabelle Germain, the president of the association of women journalists, raised the issue of the problem that many (professional) women face when they have children, and said Dati's case illustrated a dilemma.

"A woman is often forced to choose between taking time out of work to raise her children and also taking into account what impact it might have on her professional career," said Germain

"That's as true for women in politics as it is in business, as the time when many people make the most progress within their careers is between 30 and 40 years of age, and that coincides with the moment when many women choose to have children," she added.

On the political front, several of Dati's cabinet colleagues came out in "support" of her decision, in terms of congratulating her publicly and saying how well she looked.

Her big boss, Nicolas Sarkozy, was reportedly full of smiles and "felicitations" - as well he might be.

Dati - although seemingly out of favor over recent months with the French president, still head an important ministry, and Sarkozy is pushing forward with plans to change the French judiciary system to bring it more into line with the one used in the English-speaking world.

Furthermore, he's also rumored to be hoping that Dati will head the list for the governing UMP party in this year's European parliamentary elections.

Dati herself, immediately the meeting finished, smiled at the assembled journalists, said "Very well thank you," when asked about how she was feeling, and hurried off to her next appointment.