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Health

07th Dec 2015

A Pregnant Scientist Was Uninvited to a Conference And Pregnant Women Everywhere Were Pretty Peeved

Women tweeted #7monthsawesome in solidarity

Cassie Delaney

Dr. Samantha Decombel is a UK scientist, entrepreneur and mother to be. Samantha is the founder of FitnessGenes, a company that creates diet plans for customers based on their genetic traits. She was recently invited to address a European scientific conference, but at 35-weeks pregnant, the invite was revoked.

In correspondence with the conference organisers, Samantha received an email, which stated: “I get back to you because after a reflexion our colleagues from the European Commission are not very enthusiastic to take a risk for your health making you travel to Brussels at the late stage of your pregnancy[sic] .”

Samantha tried to reason with the organisers, but they refused to reissue the scientist an invite to the conference.

Speaking to Today, she said: “When I read the email originally, I reread it several times. And then I got my colleagues in the office to read it and assure me that I’m not overreacting. “Everyone said, ‘No, no, it’s unbelievable. They can’t do that.'”

Commenting on Instagram, Samantha wrote: “I was invited to speak at this years conference in Brussels as a young female scientist and entrepreneur, who has set up two companies and raised over £1M in funding and grants to support the research around our ideas[sic].

“As this is an area I am passionate about I agreed to speak and offer my experiences and views. As I am sure you are aware, one of the key hurdles facing many women in science and entrepreneurship is the desire to start a family, and how this will fit in with their career plans”. 

Samantha shared a post of the email to Instagram. Twitter user Karen James saw the post and took to Twitter to convey the message that pregnancy should not be seen as some disability. She began tweeting with #7monthsawesome. The hashtag multiplied with women globally sharing images of their pregnant bellies accompanied by tales of badass womanhood.