LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Beaming as she was showered with flowers by party supporters on her return from a dream vacation in Tahiti, Peru's first lady Eliane Karp shrugged off a scandal over her undeclared job as a $10,000-a-month bank consultant and vowed to fight on for women's right to work.

Greeting hundreds of cheering well-wishers at Lima airport with heart-shaped balloons in Peru's red and white colors, and clutching the hand of her husband, President Alejandro Toledo, Karp said women had a right "to earn an honest living."

Toledo, who made an emotional defense of Karp in a televised speech to the nation on Monday night, went to the airport to meet her and their 20-year-old daughter, Chantal after what he called their South Pacific "dream" vacation.

During Karp's absence, Peru's No. 2 bank, Banco Wiese Sudameris, confirmed it had been paying her $10,000 a month to act as a consultant on the agricultural sector.

She is not paid for her role as first lady in a nation where more than half of the population lives on $1.25 a day.

Karp, a Belgian anthropologist and agricultural specialist, made no reference to her consulting job. "We women who weren't born with grand names or incomes or inheritances have a right and the desire to earn an honest living," she said.

"We'll always be here to fight with you for women's rights ... to psychological, economic and financial independence."

In his message, Toledo blasted attacks on the outspoken Karp as a bid to undermine him politically, and dismissed reports she had left him as a story "woven with malevolence."

"Above everything, she is my wife and I demand respect for her. I love her, she is the mother of my daughter, she fought alongside me ... to recover democracy in Peru," said Toledo.

"She has the right to work, let her work. If there is anything anyone wants to investigate, let them, there is nothing that sullies her name."

ETHICAL QUESTIONS

Toledo, whose popularity has sunk to around 20 percent in polls amid anger at the slow pace of job creation, said "behind these maneuvers there are unspoken political intentions."

Karp's political campaigning alongside Toledo from 2000 cemented a reconciliation with Toledo -- the pair had separated from 1986 to 1996. There have been unconfirmed recent reports of fresh strain over a paternity suit involving a 14-year-old girl whose mother says Toledo is the father.

Toledo, who denies the child is his, says his refusal to take a DNA test to settle it as a personal issue.

The Karp consultancy case has also raised ethical questions and drawn fire from opposition politicians.

After Toledo took office in July 2001, Karp said she had no job beside unpaid first lady duties, which she said took 20 hours a day. Peruvian first ladies usually deal with children's issues but Karp, who speaks the Quechua language of Andean Indians, heads a commission to defend native peoples' rights.

She complained in interviews that she was used to being paid as a professional and did not like relying on her husband for cash. She had even defended Toledo's salary -- at first $18,000 a month, which he cut to $12,000 last November after a public outcry -- on the grounds she did not have a paid job.

Karp, whose high-profile public role has drawn comparisons with that of former U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton, had previously worked for institutions including the World Bank.

Toledo said she became a Wiese consultant in late 2000 after working for Banco de Lima, which later became part of Wiese. The bank was embroiled in the corruption scandal, sparked by Peru's former spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, that felled hard-line ex-President Alberto Fujimori in 2000. Investigations showed Montesinos held accounts at the bank.

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